54 THE ELEPHANT. 



very anciently civilized, made the education of 

 the elephant a kind of art, and have inftructed 

 and modified him according to their own man- 

 ners. But, of all the African nations, the Car- 

 thaginians alone formerly trained the elephants 

 to war ; becaufc, at the fplendid period of their 

 republic, they were perhaps the mod civilized 

 people of the Eall. There are now no wild ele- 

 phants in all that part of Africa on this fide of 

 Mount Atlas. There are even few beyond thefe 

 mountains, till we arrive at the river Senegal. 

 But they are numerous in Senegal *, in Gui- 

 ney f , in Congo J, on the T^eth coaft §, in the 



countries 



* The elephants, of which I daily faw great numbers along 

 the banks of the river Senegal, no longer allonifhed me. On 

 the fifth day of November, I walked into the woods oppofite to 

 the village of Dagana, where I found a number of their frefh 

 tracks, which I followed near two leagues, and at laft difco- 

 vered five of thefe animals ; three of them lay wallowing, like 

 hogs, in their own foil, and the fourth was {landing with its cub, 

 eating the branches of an acacia tree, which they had broken 

 off. By comparing the animal with the height of the tree, I 

 perceived that its crupper was at leaft eleven or twelve feet high, 

 and its tufks near three feet long. Though my prefence did 

 not difiurb them, I thought it proper to retire. Jn purfuing 

 my route, I met with the impreffions of their feet, which mea- 

 fured near a foot and a half in diameter. Their dung, which 

 refembled that of a horfe, formed balls {cxen or eight inches in 

 diameter ; Voyage an Senegal, par M. Adavfon, /. 75. See alfo 

 „ Voyage de la Mair, p. 97. 



+ Voyage de Guinee, par Bofman, p. 243. 



% In the province of Pamba, which belongs to the kingdom 

 of Congo, there are many elephants, on account of the num- 

 ber of rivers and forefls with which that country abounds ; 

 Drake' 1 Voyages. See likewife, in the Dutch colledion of Eafi 

 India Voyages, Le voyage de Vander Broeck, torn. 2. />. 319. and 

 // Genio vagante del Conte Aurelio, torn. 2. p. 473. 



§ The firft country where elephants are frequent is that part 



of 



