224 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 



being far higher than the average adult animal, convey an erroneous 

 impression. Even the best scientific writers are apt to fall into the 

 habit of giving the largest measurements fairly attainable, which 

 therefore brings the average animal far below the standard they set 

 op. I can scarcely recall an instance of having shot a mammal, 

 even out of a score of the same species, which came up to the meas- 

 tiremeuts recorded by Jerdon in his "Mammals of India." 



The height of the male Elephas Indicus should be recorded as 

 9 feet 6 inches, vertical measurement, at the shoulder, and the female 

 8 feet, for these figures represent the height of from eight to twelve 

 individuals to be found in every hundred ; in other words, animals 

 which can be seen without searching throughout the length and 

 breadth of India. 



The height of the Indian elephant is nearly everywhere recorded 

 as being from 10 to 10^ feet. The largest animal of the species 

 ever measured by reliable hands was a tusker described by Mr. 

 Corse in 1799 as belonging to Asaph-ul-Daula, a former Vizier of 

 Oudh, which really measured 10 feet 6 inches, perpendicularly, at 

 the shoulder. This animal was merely one out of ten thousand, 

 and it would be quite as sensible to measure Chang, and record the 

 height of Chinamen as being seven and a half feet, as to say that 

 the Indian elephant is as tall as the Vizier's giant. 



As furnishing the most positive and accurate information on this 

 point, I tako pleasure in quoting the following paragraphs from 

 ]\Ir. G. P. Sanderson's delightful book, " Thirteen Years Among 

 the Wild Beasts of India." In this work the author has given us 

 the freshest, fullest, and most accurate information ever penned 

 concerning the Indian elephant, as well as the most charming story 

 of jungle Ufe I have ever read. On page 55 he writes as follows : 



"Out of some hundreds of tame and newly-caught elephants 

 which I have seen in the south of India and in Bengal, also fi-om 

 Burmah and the different parts of India, and of which I have care- 

 fully measured all the largest individuals, I have not seen one 10 

 feet in vertical height at the shoulders. The largest was an ele- 

 phant in the Madras Commissariat stud at Hoonsoor, which meas- 

 ured 9 feet 10 inches. The next largest are two tuskers belonging 

 to his Highness the Maharajah of Mysore, each 9 feet 8 inches 

 captured in Mysore some forty years ago and still alive. 



" Of females, the largest I have measured, two leggy animals in 

 the stud at Dacca, were respectively 8 feet 5 inches, and 8 feet 3 

 inches. As illustrating how exceptional this height is in females, 



