676 PROBOSCIDEA. 



before. Stooping quickly from the saddle, he picked up from the 

 ground a handful of dirt, which he threw into the face of the vicious- 

 looking animal that once more attempted to rush upon him. It was im- 

 possible ; the foot was dislocated, and turned up in front like an old 

 shoe. In an instant Taher was once more on foot, and again the sharp 

 sword slashed the remaining leg. The great bull elephant could not 

 move ! The first cut with the sword had utterly disabled it ; the second 

 was its death-blow." 



ELEPHANTS IN CAPTIVITY. 



It was a very long time believed that elephants would not breed ex- 

 cept in a wild state. It is indisputable that the domesticated elephants 

 in India have never produced any young. The first baby elephant seen 

 in Europe arrived in England in 185 1. The mother was a wild one, 

 caught near Cawnpore, who gave birth to a female a few months after 

 her capture. Two wild elephants just captured were put together by 

 Corsa. Twenty-one months afterward a young one was born. It began 

 to suck at once, turning back its trunk and taking the teat in its mouth. 

 It grew rapidly, and at one year old measured nearly four feet in height. 

 The suckling period lasts for two years. But in our own country a 

 proof has been given of the unfounded character of the old supposition. 

 A female elephant which had for years been traveling in one of our 

 circuses, became the mother of the Baby Elephant which most of our 

 readers have doubtless seen. 



The Baby Elephant (Plate LII), born while its mother was in 

 close quarters in Philadelphia, in the winter of 1879, disposed forever of 

 the assumption. We saw the little creature in Brooklyn at the opening 

 of the present season, and found it to be as playful as a kitten. Its 

 mother, however, did not exhibit any particular affection for it. She 

 endured her offspring, nothing more. On one occasion she struck it 

 with her trunk so violently that it was thrown a distance of quite twenty 

 feet. It fell heavily on the ground, which, fortunately for its limbs and 

 ribs, was soft, and covered with tan bark and straw. When the " baby " 

 desired to feed, the mother would lie down with a sullen grunt, and per- 

 mit it to take into its mouth one of her dugs. The milk is very rich, 

 containing a high proportion of butter and sugar. It is said that the 

 mother-elephant cares very little for her offspring, and if kept from it 

 for forty or fifty hours, will never after recognize it. 



