122 THE ELEPHANT. 



pable of laying hold even of the most minute sub- 

 stances. Their body is very thinly scattered over 

 with hairs. — No more than one species has hitherto 

 been discovered. 



THE ELEPHANT *. 



Tliere is scarcely any animal in the Creation that 

 has at different times occupied so much the atten- 

 tion of mankind as the Elephant. Formed in a 

 very particular manner for the service of man in the 

 hot climates, it is endowed with every requisite to 

 usefulness. It is strong, active, and laborious ; re- 

 plete with mildness and sagacity. Docile in a very 

 eminent degree, it may be trained to almost any ser- 

 vice that a brute is capable of performing. 



Elephants are found wild in the shady woods of 

 Asia and Africa, where they generally live in large 

 troops. They feed on vegetables ; the young shoots 

 of trees, o-rains. and fruit of various kinds. Their 

 incursions arc much dreaded in plantations, whc^re 

 they frequently commit the most extensive ra- 

 vages ; at the same time also materially injaring 

 the crops, by trampling the ground v/iih their vast 

 feet. 



Tlie skin of the Elephant is generally of a deep 

 ash-coloured brown, approaching to black. Tl:e 

 tusks are not visible in a young animal, but in iis 

 more advanced state of growth they are eminently 



* Synonyms. — Elcphas iTiaxiiriUs. X/y;;/.— Elc])l;aiit. S>ii<:llic. — 



EiC; hanlus. Jlufbu. ■^S/iOu-'s Gen. "";'/. j>L6o.0\. — Bc;;\ 2u(td. 



p. lUO. 



