THE ELEPHANT. u 



firmly embraced in their trunks. They obferve 

 not this order, except in perilous marches, 

 when they want to pafture on cultivated fields. 

 In the deferts and forefts, they travel with lefs 

 precaution, but without feparating fo far as to 

 exceed the poflibility of receiving affiftance 

 from one another. Some of them, however, 

 occafionally wander, or lag behind the troop ; 

 and it is thefe alone whom the hunters dare 

 attack ; for a little army is neceffary to 

 aflail a whole troop *■ ; and they are never 

 vanquifhed but at the expcncc of feveral lives. 

 It is even dangerous to do them the fmalleft in- 

 jury t ) for they run ilraight upon the offen- 

 der, 



* I dill tremble when I think of the danger to which we 

 expofed ourielves in purfuing a wild elephant; ior, though 

 there were only ten or a dozen of us, the one half of which 

 were not well armed, if we could have come up with him, 

 we fliould have been fooliih enough to make the attack. We 

 thought we might kill him by two or three fliot. But I af- 

 terwards faw that this bufinefi requires two or three hundred 

 men ; Voyage de GuirJe, par Gvillaume Bof?na?i, p. 436. 



■J- Solent elephanti magno numero confertim incedere, et 

 fi quemdam obvium habuerint, vel devitant, vel illi cedunt ; 

 at ii quemdam injuria afficere velit, probofcide fublatum in 

 terram dejicet, pedibus deculcans dcnec mortuum reli- 

 querit ; Leonls African* Dejcript. Africae, p. 744. — The Ne- 

 groes unanimoufly relate, that the elephants, when they 

 meet any perfon in the woods, do him no harm, uu- 

 lefs they are attacked; but that, when iiiot at, and not 

 mortally wounded, they become extremely furious ; Voyage 

 de Guinee, par Bofman, p. 245. — The wild elephant is provoked 

 to purfue a man, and is then caught in a pit- fall ; Journal du. 

 Voyage de Sia?n,par I'Abbee de Choify, p. 242. — Thofe who hurt 



or 



