90 Gleanings Jrom the 



Dordogne, by M. Lartet, reprefents the mammoth 

 on a piece of its own ivory. 1 



The royal pupil of Ariftotle put him in pofTe- 

 fion of a good deal of knowledge on the elephant. 

 The philofopher fpeaks of it, from fifteen which 

 were captured at Arbela, as the tameft and mildeft- 

 tempered of creatures, full of intelligence, and living 

 to the age of 120 or 200 years; but at its beft 

 when 60 years old. He knew its abhorrence of 

 cold, too. Preconceived notions, however, come 

 in when he ftates that it pafles through rivers, 

 wading in them as far as the end of its trunk 

 allowed, for it breathes through this, and cannot 

 fwim on account of the bulk of its body. On the 

 contrary, the elephant is a capital fwimmer, and 

 delights in nothing fo much as deep water. The 

 Mahouts frequently caufe their charges at the 

 prefent day to fwim over wide rivers, and even 

 the Ganges. He fpeaks alfo of the time of muft 

 in male elephants ; how, at thofe periods, they are 

 in a ftate of madnefs, and knock over houfes as if 

 they were badly conftrudled, and commit all 

 manner of excefles. " They tell that fcantinefs of 

 food renders them tamer, and by bringing up to 

 them other elephants they reftrain them by 

 ordering thefe to beat them." He fpeaks, too, 

 of olive oil being given elephants to expel any 

 piece of iron they may have accidentally eaten ; 

 and has a chapter on their ailments. The food of 

 an elephant is meafured by him almoft with the 

 exadnefs with which the keep of Jumbo was cal- 



1 Wilfon, "Prehiftoric Man," i. p. 107. 



