ELEPHANTS, HISTORICAL 189 



he was 23 years old, and had for some time been a great pet 

 in London, so that, when too late, there was quite a little 

 newspaper excitement in that city over the loss of Jumbo. 

 Poor Jumbo, who had wandered over a good part of the 

 United States as one of the leading attractions of Barnum 

 and Bailey's circus, met his death by being crushed be- 

 tween two railroad cars in a desperate attempt to save a 

 baby elephant from being run over. The Zoological Com- 

 pany has owned at various times a number of fine elephants ; 

 one of these called "Chief" weighed nearly as much as 

 Jumbo for he tipped the beam at 5 tons. He was 9 ft. 2 

 in. in height and had tusks 4 ft. 5 in. long, the 

 diameter being 4J in. Unfortunately, this elephant was 

 credited with having caused the death of 11 men in the 

 circus to which he had belonged, and became so vicious 

 that he had to be killed. He had cost $5,000. As a speci- 

 men of the Asiatic elephant, the company now owns a 

 female called "Lill," who though but 8 ft. 8 in. tall, 

 and 60 years old, is very powerful and has been used to 

 move water mains weighing from 500 to 600 pounds. 

 Should a heavily loaded wagon become stalled in entering 

 the Zoological Garden, "Lill" is called upon to relieve the 

 situation and will quietly put her trunk under the hind 

 axle, tip the wagon up a little, and then push it on with 

 her head.* 



While Jumbo* is considered to have been the tallest 

 elephant ever brought from Africa, many elephant hunters 

 claim to have seen still taller ones among the wild elephants 

 they have encountered. This may be true, nevertheless 

 the fact that of those that have been shot and measured 

 none so far seem to have exceeded Jumbo in height might 



*Commumcated by S. A. Stephan, General Manager, Cincinnati Zoological Company. 

 This informant notes that African elephants are much more excitable and flighty than 

 those of Asia. 



