xii 



The VARIETIES OP THE ELEPHANT are mucli more numerous than 

 has been imagined. Zoologists speak of Loxodon, the African 

 elephant, recognizable by his large ears, lozenge shaped-enamel 

 markings on the grinding surface of the teeth, convex forehead 

 and few hoofs (generally 4 in fore and 3 in hind foot) , also small 

 tusks of the female. The range of this form has been gradually 

 curtailed by the advance of civilization from the Cape of Good 

 Hope, but East African explorers and Ivory hunters meet with 

 them in numbers increasing towards the interior of the " Dark 

 Continent." The verdict of a recent writer (Ouchterlony) that 

 " African elephants are all head and no barrel and lack the intel- 

 ligence and tractability of the Indian" is hardly borne out by the 

 history of the Carthaginians under whom the African elephant 

 rendered most important and willing services — however the fierce 

 tide of Moslem invasion seems to have proved prejudicial to the 

 civilization of the elephant in Africa, and at the present day he is 

 slaughtered recklessly for the sake of his ivory tusks but is left 

 to roam free in his native wilds undisturbed by the trainer and 

 Mahout. Doubtless the reckless profusion displayed in his des- - 

 truction requires attention and some efforts should be made for 

 his re-domestication. Euelephas, the Indian genus, on the other 

 hand, is an animal which has been domesticated continuously in 

 the historic period and has undergone a great deal of variation. 

 We have the authority of Sanderson for saying that thero is no 

 evidence of decrease in number of elephants in India, but cer- 

 tainly they are much less numerous in Ceylon than formerly. 

 Sir Stamford Raffles and Sir Emerson Tennent are the principal 

 authorities on the Ceylon Elephant which is much less fi-equently 

 tusked than that of India. Elephants have been exported from 

 Ceylon since the time of the first Punio War. They were the 

 perquisite of the Kandyan Cro^vn. The Portuguese and Dntoh 

 Governments successively kept up elephant-hunting establish- 

 ments in Ceylon, and now there is a large export trade, mainly 

 from Manaar, horses being received in exchange (Tennent), 

 All the varieties of Euelephas agree in the concavity of the fore- 

 head, smallness of the ears, and the parallel arrangement of the 

 enamel layers of the molars, generally the toe nails are five before 

 and four behind, but subject to considerable range of variety its. 

 number. Shan elephants are tall, massive and handsome, gene-' 



