246 



THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY 



and conquer the lion. We must observe, that he shakes 

 the ground at every step; that with his trunk he roots up 

 trees; that with the strength of his body he makes a breach 

 in a wall; that, being terrible by his force, he is invincible 

 by the resistance only of his enormous mass, and by the 

 thickness of the leather which covers it; that he can carry 

 on his back a tower armed in war, with a number of men; 

 that he alone moves machines, and carries burthens, which 

 six horses cannot move. To this prodigious strength he 

 joins courage, prudence, coolness, and an exact obedience: 

 he preserves moderation even in his most violent passion; 

 he is more constant than impetuous in love; in anger he 

 does not forget his friends; he never attacks any but those 

 who have given him offence; he remembers favours as long 

 as injuries: having no taste for flesh, and feeding chiefly 

 upon vegetables, he is not naturally an enemy to other ani- 

 mals; he is beloved by them all, since all of them respect 

 him, and have no cause to fear him. For these reasons, 

 men have had at all times a veneration for this great, this 

 first of animals. The ancients considered the Elephant as 

 a prodigy, a miracle of nature; they have much exaggerated 

 his natural faculties; they attribute to him, without hesita- 

 tion, not only intellectual qualities, but moral virtues. * 

 In a wild state, the Elephant is neither bloody nor fero- 

 cious; his manners are social; he seldom wanders alone; he 

 commonly walks in company, the oldest leads the herd, the 

 next in age drives them, and forms the rear; the young and 

 the weak are in the middle. The females carry their 

 young, and hold them close with their trunks. They only 

 observe this order, however, in perilous marches, when they 

 go to feed on cultivated lands; they walk or travel with less 

 precaution in forests and solitary places, but still keeping at 

 such a moderate distance from each other, as to be able to 

 give mutual assistance, and seasonable warnings of danger. 

 Some, however, straggle, and remain behind the others ; 

 none but these are attacked by hunters, for a small army 

 would be requisite to assail the whole herd, and they could 

 not conquer without a great loss of men; it is even danger- 

 ous to do them the least injury, they go straight to the 

 offender, and, notwithstanding the weight of their body, 

 they walk so fast that they easily overtake the lightest man 

 in running; they pierce him through with their tusks, or 

 seize him with their trunks, throw them against a stone, 

 and tread him under their feet; but it is only when they 

 have been provoked, that they become so furious and so 

 implacable. It is said, that when they have been once at- 

 tacked by men, or have fallen into a snare, the}' never for- 

 get it, and seek for revenge on all occasions. As they have 

 an exquisite sense of smelling, perhaps more perfect than 

 any other animal, owing to the large extent of their nose, 

 they smell a man at a great distance, and could easily follow 



him by the track. These animals are fond of the banks of 

 rivers, deep valleys, shady places, and marshy grounds; 

 they cannot subsist a long while without water, and they 

 make it thick and muddy before they drink; they often fill 

 their trunks with it, either to convey it to their mouth, or 

 only to cool their nose, and to amuse themselves in sprink- 

 ling it around them; they cannot support cold, and suffer 

 equally from excessive heat, for, to avoid the burning rays 

 of the sun, they penetrate into the thickest forests; they also 

 bathe often in the water; the enormous size of their body ia 

 rather an advantage to them in swimming, and they do not 

 swim so deep in the water as other animals; besides, the 

 length of their trunk, which they erect, and through which 

 they breathe, takes from them all fear of being drowned. 



Their common food is roots, herbs, leaves, and young 

 branches; they also eat fruit and corn, but they have a dis- 

 like to flesh and fish. When one of them finds abundant 

 pasture, he calls the others, and invites them to come and 

 feed with him. As they want a great quantity of fodder, 

 they often change their place, and when they find cultivated 

 lands, they make a prodigious waste; their bodies being of 

 an enormous weight, they destroy ten times more with 

 their feet, than they consume for their food, which may be 

 reckoned at the rate of one hundred and fifty pounds of grass 

 daily. As they never feed but in great numbers, they 

 waste a large territory in about an hour's time; for this rea- 

 son, the Indians and the Negroes take great pains to prevent 

 their visits, and to drive them away, by making a great 

 noise, and great fires; notwithstanding these precautions, 

 however, the Elephants often take possession of them, drive 

 away the cattle and men, and sometimes pull down their 

 cottages. It is diflicult to frighten them, as they are little 

 susceptible of fear; nothing can stop them but fire-works, 

 and crackers thrown amongst them, the sudden effect of 

 which, often repeated, forces them sometimes to turn back. 

 It is very difficult to part them, for they commonly attack 

 their enemies all together, proceed unconcerned, or turn 

 back. 



The female Elephant goes two years with young; when 

 she is in that condition the male never conjoins with her. 

 They only bring forth a young one, which has teeth as soon 

 as brought forth; he is then larger than a boar; yet his tusks 

 are not visible, they appear soon after, and at six months old 

 are some inches in length; at that age, the Elephant is larger 

 than an ox, and the tusks continue to increase till he is ad- 

 vanced in years. 



It is very easy to tame the Elephant. As he is the 

 strongest and most rational of animals, he is more serviceable 

 than any of them; but he was formerly supposed to feel his 

 servile condition, and never to couple in a domestic state. 

 This, however, has been found to be an erroneous opinion. 



