63 THE ELEPHANT. 



I faw,' fays le P. Vincent Marie, * fome ele- 

 phants which were fourteen and fifteen * feet 

 high, with a proportional length and thicknefs. 

 The male is always larger than the female. 

 The price of theie animals augments in propor- 

 tion to their irze, which is meafured from the 

 eye to the extremity of the back, and, after ex- 

 ceeding certain dimenfions, the price rifes like 

 that of precious itones f .' ' The Guiney ele- 

 phants,' Bofman remarks, ' are ten, twelve, or 

 thirteen feet high J ; and yet they are incom- 

 parably fmaller than thole of the Eaft Indies ; 

 for the hiflorians of that country give more 

 cubits to the height of the latter than the for- 

 mer has feet §.' ' I faw,' faid Edward Terry, 

 elephants of thirteen feet in height, and many 

 people affirmed, that they had leen elephants 

 fifteen feet high (].' 

 From theie," and many other authorities which 

 might be enumerated, we may conclude, that the 

 ordinary flature of the elephant is from ten to 

 eleven feet ; that thofe of thirteen and fourteen 

 are very rare j and that the fmalleft, when they 



acquire 



for, according to the calculation I have made in the text, the 

 dimenfions of which I rather under-rated, he would have weigh- 

 ed at lead eight thoufand pounds. 



* Thefe are probably Roman feet. 



f Voyage aux hides Orientales du P. Vincent Marie, chap. 

 ii. p. 396. 



J Thefe are probably Rhenifh feet. 



§ Voyage en Guiue'e de Guillaume Bofman, p. 244. 



|| Voyage to the Eaft Indies by Edward Terry. Note. Thefe 

 are perhaps Englifh feet. 



