THE ELEPHANT. 49 



mufical inftruments, and moves in cadence to 

 the trumpet and tabour. His fcnk of imelling 

 is exquifite, and he is paflionately fond of per- 

 fumes of every kind, and efpecially of odorife- 

 rous flowers, which he gathers one by one, 

 makes nofegays of them, and, after gratifying 

 his nofe, conveys them to his mouth. The 

 flowers of the orange conftitute one of his mod 

 delicious models; With his trunk he robs an 

 orange tree of all its verdure, eating the fruit, 

 the flowers, the leaves, and even the imall 

 branches *. In the meadows, he {'elects the 

 moll odoriferous plants ; and, in the woods, he 

 prefers the cocoa, the banana, the paim, and the 

 fago trees j and, as thefe trees are foft and ten- 

 der, he eats not only the leaves and fruit, but 

 even the branches,^ the trunk, and the roots ; 

 for, when they are unable to pull up the trees 

 with their trunk, they always fucceed by uling 

 their tufks. 



With regard to the fenfe of touching, it is 

 chiefly confined to the trunk ; but, in this mem- 

 ber, it is as delicate and diftincl: as in the hu- 

 man hand. The trunk is compofed of mem- 

 branes, nerves, and mufcles ; it is both an or- 

 gan of feeling and of motion. The animal can 

 not only move and bend it, but he can contract, 

 lengthen, and turn it on all fides. The ex- 

 tremity of the trunk terminates in a protube- 

 Vol. VI. D ranee 



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



