Sucklers. 9705 



Afncan Elephaul at the Zoological Gardens.-lh^ Zoological Society has been 

 successful m netjociating with the managers of the Jardin des Plantes at Paris an 

 exchange of a rhmoceros for a young African elephant, the first, it is asserted, ever 

 ' , '° ""' couiury-an assertion, by ihe way, that seems oj>en to question. The 

 stnk.ng differences between the two species are,/«<,the conformation of the forehead 

 so prominent and vaulted iu the Asiatic species, so depressed and retreating in the 

 Alncan ; secondly, the size of the ears, which are proportionately twice as large in the 

 AJncan as u, the Asiatic : these discrepancies arrest the attention of the most superficial 

 observer When this little elephant is fed or noticed in any unusual manner, he moves 

 his ears forwards almost at right angles with his head, when they have somewhat the 

 appearance of the wings of a butterfly: a photograph of the animal in this attitude 

 would be a great acquisition if he could be induced to remain quiet during the opera- 

 lions of ihe photographer.— £'(/tt;ar<£ Newman. 



The Dead Sea.— li is often said that no one is as black as he is painted, and I trust 

 you will permit me to say a word on behalf of the Dead Sea. The name of " Dead 

 Sea" .s a modern, or rather medisval epithet. To the ancients it was simply the 

 hah Sea ; to the Arabs it is only " Lot's Sea " {Bahr Lut). My friend Mr. Grove 

 ot Sydenham, in his able and exhaustive essay on the Salt Sea in Smith's ' Dictionary 

 of the Bihle,' has fuHy disproved the popular notion of its being a sea of death ; and 

 there is no man living who is more thoroughly master of every question of Palestine 

 geography. During the past year I spent many weeks on the shores of the Dead Sea 

 I walked round a great portion of it, and examined every nook and cranny of the cliffs* 

 which enclose it. The climate is perfect and most delicious. At no place'in the world 

 could a sanatorium be established with such prospects of benefit as at Ain Jidy (En-rgdi) 

 Baths hot and cold, salt and mineral, with luxurious shade, cascades and pudding 

 streams-everything but security for life and property is there. There are many spots 

 near the sea where fresh-water streams flow throughout the year, and where sweet 

 water bubbles up within a few feet of the salt shore. I may mention, besides Ain Jidy 

 Feskhah, Terabeh, Urn Bagkek, Callirhoe, the Arnon, and, above all, the Safieh at 

 the east side. Wherever these occur there is a prodigality of life, animal and ve<retable 

 to the very shores of the sea. I collected ] 18 species of birds, several of them new to' 

 science, on the shores of the lake, or swimming or flying over its waters. The cane- 

 brukes and oases which fringe it are the homes of about forty species of Mammalia' 

 several of them animals never before brought to England ; and innumerable tropical 

 or semi-tropical plants, of Indian or African affinities, perfume the atmosphere. The 

 rich plain of the Safieh is cultivated for indigo, maize and barley to within a few feet 

 of the water's edge, and the date palm still waves over the raouih of the Arnon and the 

 Zerka. The bitterness of the water of the lake itself is simply due to the saturation 

 Irom the great salt mountain of Usdum at its southern extremity, and to the many hot 

 sulphur springs which stud its shores. This saturation of salt and sulphur soon 

 destroys the fresh-water fish which enter the sea iu shoals, and supplvfood to the three 

 species of kingfishers, the gulls, ducks and grebes, which may be .een and shot on all 

 parts of the lake. Let not, therefore, the traveller be deterred from extendiu- his 

 investigations round the Dead Sea shores. He will find abundance of life to Tepay 

 him if a naturalist, of varied scenery and wondiously painted skies and precipices if he 

 IS an artist, and night alter ni^^ht he may pitch his tent by springs of sweet water — 

 —Rev. H. B. Trutram (Greatham Vicarage, July 27, 1865) in the ' Daily Telegraph ' 

 VOL. XXIII. 2 T 



