THE ELEPHANT. 669 



be dispensed with. In Ceylon, an elephant costs six to seven shillings a 

 day to feed, and he can work only four days a week. A stout horse, 

 that works for five days, costs only two shillings and sixpence. 



When the natives hunt the elephant merely for the sake of his ivory 

 or his flesh, and do not care to take him alive, they achieve their object 

 by stealing cautiously upon him as he dozes, and by gently tickling one 

 of his hind-feet with a slight twig, they induce him to lift his foot from 

 the ground. As soon as he does so, the hunters, who are furnished with 

 a mallet and a sharp wooden spike about eight inches in length, drive 

 the spike into his foot, and effectually lame him with a single blow. He 

 is then quite at their disposal, and is easily dispatched. The flesh of the 

 elephant is thought to be very poor indeed ; but the heart, the tongue, 

 the trunk, and the foot, are considered to be good eating. 



The " points " of a good elephant are as important in India and Cey- 

 lon as those of a horse in Europe. In a native work upon the elephant, 

 quoted by Sir E. Tennent, the points are given as follows : " The soft- 

 ness of the skin, the red color of the mouth and tongue, the forehead 

 expanded and full, the ears large and rectangular, the trunk broad at the 

 root, and blotched with pink in front, the eyes light and kindly, the 

 cheeks large, the neck full, the back level, the chest square, the fore-legs 

 short and convex in front, the hind quarters plump, five nails in each 

 foot, all smooth, elastic, and round. An elephant with all these perfec- 

 tions will impart glory and magnificence to the king." 



The herds in which the Indian elephants congregate are not of very 

 great size, containing only from ten to twenty or thirty individuals, and 

 consisting, as is generally thought by men of practical experience, of 

 members of the same family. This opinion is strengthened by the fact 

 that certain physical peculiarities, such as the shape of the trunk or the 

 head, have been found in every member of the same herd. Sometimes 

 these herds will associate with each other for a time, but at the smallest 

 alarm each little flock assembles together independently of the others. 

 It is remarkable that a whole herd has never been known to charge a foe 

 simultaneously. The leader generally faces the enemy, while the 

 remainder of the herd manoeuvre in his rear ; but that the entire herd 

 should unite in a charge, is a circumstance never yet known to occur. 

 The Asiatic elephant will permit the temporary society of other animals, 

 and may be seen at a fountain, or feeding on an open space in close 

 proximity to deer and wild buffaloes, neither animal displaying any 



