388 EASTERN ETHIOPIA xxxi 



proportion to the size of the body. The remarkaljle 

 sub-order of vertebrate animals, Proboscidea, includes 

 the elephants living on the earth to-day and their 

 ancestors. These mammals are remarkable for the 

 length of their trunks and the size of their tusks. The 

 best known ancestor of the elephant is the mammoth ; 

 it roamed in the mighty forests which formerly covered 

 Siberia, and had enormous tusks, some of which weighed 

 250 pounds : its remains have been found in Europe, in 

 England, and in Ireland. Mammoths existed in the 

 Siberian forests in vast numbers, for the fossilised tusks 

 of this huo;e animal have been a reo'ular article of 

 commerce for centuries, especially in China and Russia-. 



Dr. Breyne, writing in 1737, states that the teeth of 

 mammoths have been " a remarkable and particular 

 curiosity of Siberia." These teeth are foujid " in such 

 quantity as is sufficient for trade." He also mentions 

 that the chief failings of mammoth-ivory are brittleness 

 and liability to turn yellow on exjDosure to the weather 

 or heat. 



Elephants are strict vegetarians ; they feed on herbage 

 as well as on the leaves and soft branches of trees. This 

 food is seized by the wonderfully mobile trunk (or 

 proboscis) and conveyed to the mouth. The trunk, 

 which is formed by a combined prolongation of the nose 

 and upper lip, compensates the elephant for the short- 

 ness and inflexibility of its neck. In Africa elephants 

 are fond of bananas and green plants, and when they 

 visit the plantations of the natives they not only eat 

 bananas freely, but destroy a larger quantity by their 

 trampling. These huge animals congregate in herds 

 and make long journeys at night in order to obtain 

 water and food. 



When elephants have appeased the pangs of hunger 

 and quenched their thirst they sometimes become 

 playful. It was officially reported in 1909 that the 

 telegraph line on the Bahr-el-Zeraf had been inter- 



