i oo Gleanings Jrcrn the 



animals with them, and, as the Roman conquefts 

 were chiefly about Suflex, Eflex, and Kent, it is 

 moft likely that the bones of thefe creatures fhould 

 be found in thofe counties. It cannot be proved, 

 indeed, that thefe bones have not Jain ever fince 

 the general flood ; but an hiftorical truth is, in my 

 opinion, preferable to any hypothefis whatfoever." 

 Modern fcience can well afford a fmile at the 

 amufing candour of thefe conclusions. 



In the Eaft, as is only natural, the elephant 

 being regarded as poflefTed of more than mere 

 brute wifdom, is often deemed facred. Thus the 

 Hindoo Ganefha (god of wifdom) is reprefented 

 with an elephant's head, and the creature itfelf 

 frequently appears in the art of Hindoftan. It 

 is very rarely feen in Englim architecture; but 

 an elephant's head and trunk are fculptured on 

 one of the pillars of the North or Dorfet Chapel 

 of the Church of Ottery St. Mary, Devon. On 

 the fummit, too, of Gofberton Church, Lincoln- 

 mire, appears an elephant with a huge fpiral trunk. 

 In the fo-called Piclim ornamentation on ancient 

 Scottifh fculptured ftones, a good many obfervers 

 have fancied that they could detect the elephant's 

 form, and efpecially the fpiral of its trunk. 

 Doubtlefs much of this is due to imagination. 

 In fome cafes there may be a faint remembrance 

 of the mammoth. Elaborate fchemes of mythical 

 orientalizing have been founded on this fpiral line, 

 which, after all, is fimply a characleriftic mark 

 of early Scottifh ornamentation. The late Dr. 

 Burton fays, " It is pretty evident, when we in- 



