6o THE ELEPHANT. 



therefore, more time and conveniency for this 

 operation than other quadrupeds; and it is, per- 

 haps, for this reafon, that they never eopulate 

 but when they enjoy full liberty, and have every 

 neceiTary article at their command. The female 

 mult not only confent, but folicit the male by a 

 pofition which me never alTumes, unlefs when 

 fhe thinks herfelf in perfect retirement*. May 

 we not, therefore, conclude, that modefty is a 

 phyfrcal virtue which exifts in the brute creation? 

 It is, at leaf!:, like foftnefs, moderation, and tem- 

 perance, a general and beautiful attribute of the 

 female fex. 



Thus the elephant neither fucks, generates, 

 eats, nor drinks like other animals. The found 

 of his voice is likewife extremely lingular. If 

 we believe the ancients, the elephant utters two 

 kinds of cries, one by the trunk, which, from its 

 finuofities and inflexions, is rough and long, like 

 the found of a trumpet ; and another by the 

 mouth, which is interrupted by fhort paufes and 

 harm fighs "['• This fact, which was advanced 



. . b Y 



* The female lies down on her back. The male reds on his fore 



* legs, bends down thofe behind, and touches not the female 



* any farther than is necdlary to effeft his purpofe.' 



* Pudore nunquam nil! inabdito coeunt ; Pirn. biji. nat. lib. 

 8. cap. 5. — The elephants couple very rarely; and, when they 

 do, it is with fuch fecrecy, and in places fa folitary, that they 

 have never been obferved by any perfon. When in a domeftic 

 itate, they never produce ; Voyage am hides Orientates du P. 

 Vincent Mark de Saintc Catherine de Sienne, chap. \\. p. 396. 



f Elephantus citra nares ore ipfo vocem edit fpirabundam, 



quera- 



