THE ELEPHANT. 66l 



If the declivity be very steep, the animal will not descend in a direct 

 line, but makes an oblique track along the face of the hill. Although 

 the description of this process occupies some time, the feat is per- 

 formed with extreme rapidity. 



THE ELEPHANT IN HISTORY. 



The ancient Egyptians had seen both the African and Asiatic Ele- 

 phant, having made the acquaintance of the latter during their cam- 

 paigns in Assyria. On coins, the Greeks, who had encountered the 

 Persians, always represented the Asiatic species, while the coins of the 

 Romans represented the African species. 



In India, the Elephant is called Hathi, " the beast with the hand," and 

 the grandeur and state pomp of the mightiest Oriental kings, the enor- 

 mity of whose magnificence sometimes reads like a fabulous wonder, 

 seems almost inseparable from the early history of elephants. On all 

 great occasions, and the assemblage of multitudes, the lofty and saga- 

 cious double forehead, with the quiet small eyes, enormous flaps of ears, 

 and ever-varying attitude of "proboscis lithe," constitutes one of the 

 most imposing figures of the majestic scene and its countless concourse. 

 In the most ancient Sanscrit poems there are records of tame elephants in 

 processions, a thousand years before the Christian era. We do not allude 

 only to great state occasions, or to warlike processions, but even to reli- 

 gious ceremonies, since the elephant is found to occupy a post of extra- 

 ordinary honor in the remotest records of the mythology of India. One 

 of their most alarming deities rides upon his back; while the idol which 

 is their symbol for wisdom and science, bears the form of a man with the 

 head of an elephant. A few miles from the modern city of Kermanshah, 

 the excavations of the rock display many finely carved figures, and the 

 sides of some of the caves are covered with sculpture representing the 

 hunting of wild boars along the banks of a river by men mounted on 

 elephants, while others, in boats, are ready to attack the game when it 

 takes to the water. The ancient Chinese represented the earth as borne 

 upon the backs of eight elephants, whose heads were turned to the prin- 

 cipal points of the compass. The same animal is a favorite figure of 

 speech in their poetry. In Eastern architecture the elephant is likewise 

 a very important personage at the gates of temples, on the walls of 

 palaces, on the sides of tombs and pagodas, and in subterranean temples 



