166 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
affords, as well as a valuable article of commerce, in the 
pure and polished ivory of which they are formed. They 
have been known to weigh as much as one hundred and 
fifty pounds, but their usual average is from fifty to 
seventy. 
The ears of the Elephant are large, not elevated like 
those of other quadrupeds so as to form a kind of trum- 
pet for the reception of sound, but flattened down upon 
the side of the head, and forming a broad and uninter- 
ruptedly expanded surface. His eyes, remarkably small 
in proportion to his bulk, are sheltered above by a cluster 
of long hairs, which, with a few others scattered over the 
head and still more rarely on the body, and a kind of 
brush at the extremity of the tail, constitute the only 
covering, if covering it may be called, with which he 
is provided. His skin in fact is throughout nearly des- 
titute of hair; but in return it is, as in the rest of the 
order, of excessive thickness and extreme tenacity, inso- 
much as to be capable of repelling a common musket 
ball, which scarcely makes the slightest impression upon 
its surface. His feet are enveloped by a large hoof of a 
callous and almost horny consistence, and are divided, 
in the skeleton at least, into five toes, the extremities 
only of which, rendered obvious by the nails by which 
they are surmounted, are externally visible. On the 
hind feet the number of apparent toes varies from three 
to four. 
But of all the peculiarities by which the Elephant is 
distinguished, the most singular and at the same time 
the most useful is the projection which is formed by the 
blending and extension of the nose and upper lip into 
an elongated and tapering tube, considerably longer than 
