34 THE ELEPHANT. 



nefs and callofity of his (kin : All thefe de- 

 formities are the more confpicuous and difagrec- 

 able to the eye, becaufe they are modelled 

 . on a large fcale, and mod of them peculiar 

 to the elephant alone; for in no animal are 

 the head, the feet, the nofe, the ears, and the 

 tufks, fituated like thofe of the elephant. 



From this ftrange conformation, the animal is 

 fubjecled to feveral inconveniencies. He moves 

 his head with difficulty, and cannot turn him- 

 felf, in order to go back, without making a cir- 

 cuit. The hunters who attack him behind, or 

 on the flanks, avoid the effects of his vengeance 

 by circular movements ; and they have time to 

 renew their blows while he is turning himfelf 

 againft them. His legs, the rigidity of which is 

 not fo great as that of his neck and body, bend 

 but flowly, and with difficulty. They are ftrong- 

 ly articulated to the thighs. His knee is like 

 that of man*, and his foot is equally low; but 

 the latter has no extent, fpring, or force, and the 

 former is hard and rigid. As long, however, as 

 the elephant is young and in health, he bends 

 his knees to lie down, and allows himfelf to be 

 mounted, or charged with a load. But, when 

 old or fick, this movement becomes (o laborious, 



that 



* His knee is fituated, like that of man, in the middle be- 

 tween the belly and the foot ; fo that the elephant's leg is ft- 

 jnilar to a man's, both with regard to the pofition of the knee 

 and the fmallnefs of the foot, the extent of which, from the 



heel to the toes, is very fmall ; Mini, pour Jervir d Pbifl. da a- 

 vimaux, part. 3. p. 1 02. 



