THE ELEPHANT. 43 



twenty, a hundred and thirty, and a hundred 

 and forty *. I believe, that a medium between 

 the two extremes is the truth ; and that, if cap- 

 tive elephants live a hundred and twenty, or a 

 hundred and thirty years, thofe which are free, 

 and enjoy all the conveniencies and rights of 

 Nature, ought to exift at leaft two hundred. 

 Beiides, if they go two years with young, 

 and require thirty before they obtain their full 

 growth, we may, with flill more certainty, con- 

 clude, that their life extends beyond the period 

 we have affixed. But captivity abridges their 

 exiftence lefs than the injuries arifing from 

 change of climate. Whatever care is beftowed 

 on him, the elephant lives not long in tempe- 

 rate, and ftill morter in cold countries. That 

 which the King of Portugal fent to Louis XIV. 



in 



centos ; Arijl. Hi/}, anim. lib. 8. cap. 9- — Elephas ut longiffi- 

 mum annos circiter ducentos vivit ; Arrian. in Indicts. — I faw 

 a white elephant, which was deftined to be the fucce/Tor of 

 that in the palace, and was faid to be near three hundred 

 years old ; Premier -voyage de Slain du p. Tachard, p. 273 



* The elephants grow during one half of their exigence, 

 and generally live a hundred and fifty years ; Drake's voyage, 

 p. 104. — The female elephants go two years with young, and 

 live a hundred and fifty years ; Recueil des voyages de la Compasr- 



nle des Indes de Hollande, torn. 7. p. 31. Notwithstanding all 



the inquiries I have made, I could never learn exafliy how 

 long the elephant lives. The keepers of thefe animals can 

 give no other information, than that fuch an elephant was in 

 the poffeffion of their father, grandfather, and great-grand- 

 father ; and, by computing the length of time which thefe 

 people lived, it is fometimes found to amount to a hundred 

 and twenty, or a hundred and thirty years ; Voyage ds Tavr- 

 «ier t torn. 3. p. z^t. 



