172 NATURAL HISTORY. 



himdred-aud-twelve pounds. Old bull elephants are found 

 singly or in pairs, or consorting together in small herds, vary- 

 ing from six to twenty individuals. The younger bulls remain 

 for many years in the company of their mothers, and these 

 are met together in large herds of from twenty to a hundred 

 individuals. The food of the Elephant consists of the branches, 

 leaves, and roots of trees, and also of a variety of bulbs, of 

 the situation of which he is advised by his exquisite sense of 

 small. To obtain these he turns up the ground with his tusks, 

 arid whole acres may be seen thus ploughed up. Elephants 

 consum.3 an immense quantity of food, and pass the greater 

 part of the day and night in feeding. Like the whale in the 

 ocean the Elephant on land is acquainted with, and roams 

 over, wide and extensive tracts. He is extremely particular 

 in always frequenting the freshest and most verdant districts 

 of the forests, and when one district is parched and barren he 

 will forsake it for years and wander to great distances in quest 

 of better pasture. 



" The Elephant entertains an extraordinary horror of man, 

 and a child can put a hundred of them to flight by passing at 

 a quarter of a mile to windward ; and when thus disturbed, 

 they go a long way before they halt. It is surprising how 

 soon these sagacious animals are aware of the presence of a 

 hunter in their domains. "When one troop has been attacked, 

 all the other elephants frequenting the district are aware of the 

 fact within two or three days, when they all forsake it, and 

 migrate to distant parts." 



" They choose for their resort the most lonely and secluded 

 depths of the forest, generally at a very great distance from 

 the rivers and fountains at which they drink. In dry and 

 warm weather they visit these waters nightly ; but in cool 

 and cloudy weather they drink only once every third or fourth 

 day. About sundown the elephant leaves his distant midday 

 haunt, and commences his march towards the fountain, which 

 is probably from twelve to twenty miles distant. This he 

 generally reaches between the hours of nine and midnight; 

 when, having slaked his thirst and cooled his body by spout- 

 ing large volumes of water over his back with his trunk, he 

 resumes the path to his forest solitudes. Having reached a 

 secluded spot, I have remarked that full-grown bulls lie down 



