150 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



and spirit.* The possession of greater courage in battle on 

 the part of the Asiatic breed may perhaps be explained by 

 their better training in warlike operations. Pliny, indeed, 

 declares that African elephants were terrified at the very 

 sight of their Asiatic cousins. f That, however, the latter 

 should be the larger is entirely contrary to modern 

 experience, and can only be explained by the conjecture 

 that the elephants secured by the Romans in Northern 

 Africa were distinctly inferior to those from the equatorial 

 regions. 



The Romans had good opportunity to compare the differ- 

 ent races as the war elephants of Pyrrhus, the first they en- 

 countered, and later those of the Asiatic potentates they 

 overcame were of the Asiatic race, while those led against 

 theni by the Numidian kings Jugurtha (d. 104 B. C.) and 

 Juba (d. 46 B. C.) were Africans. J This latter type appears 

 on almost all the Roman coins bearing representations of 

 the elephant, as, indeed, African elephants were the only 

 ones used — and these but rarely — by the Romans in military 

 operations.** It may be noted in this connection that on 

 coins the figures symbolizing the province of Africa almost 

 invariably bear as a headcovering the scalp and trunk, 

 though rarely the tusks, of the elephant. § The Asiatic 

 coins naturally offer us the Asiatic type of the animal. 



Pliny tells us, on the authority of Mucianus, thrice consul, 

 of a learned elephant which had been taught the Greek 

 characters, and wrote (or spelled out) the following words in 

 this language: "I have written and I have dedicated the 



*Pompomi Melse, "De choregraphico," Lib. II, cap. 7. 



tPlinii, "Hist. Nat.," Lib. VIII, cap. 9. ^lian (hist, anm., cap. 8) states that some 

 Indian elephants reached the height of 7 cubits, about 13 ft. 



{Armandi, op. cit., p. 278. 



**Annandi, op. cit., p. 3. 



§Armandi, op. cit., p. 18. 



