NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK. 91 



mals, must unquestionably be large and substantial. There 

 is no pleasure in seeing a ponderous elephant chained to 

 the floor of a small room, unable even to walk to and fro, 

 and never permitted to roam at will in the open air and sun- 

 light. It is no wonder that dungeon-kept elephants go mad, 

 and do mischief. If an elephant — or for that matter any 

 animal — cannot be kept in comfortable captivity, then let it 

 not be kept at all. 



The Elephant House of the City of New York is a large 

 and roomy structure, built to render good service for two 

 centuries. Its extreme length over all is 170 feet, and its 

 width is 84 feet. Its two sides are divided into 8 huge 

 compartments, of which 4 are for elephants, 2 for rhinoc- 

 eroses, and 2 for hippopotami. Each of these is 24x21^2 

 feet. 



The Hippopotami have within the building a tank 24x21 

 feet, and 8 feet in total depth; and another will be con- 

 structed in their corral. 



Each end of the building furnishes two cages of smaller 

 dimensions, for tapirs, and young elephants. The whole 

 area surrounding the building, excepting the axial walk, is 

 devoted to open-air yards, so arranged that each cage in the 

 interior connects directly with a corral which affords both 

 sunshine and shade. Nature seems to have made this beau- 

 tiful open grove — strangely free from trees in its center — 

 especially for the purposes to which it now is devoted. 



It is by no means the intention of the Zoological Society, 

 that, because an axial walk leads through the Elephant 

 House, the building shall be used as a thoroughfare for foot 

 traffic between the northern and southern portions of the 

 Park. Such use would surely defeat the main purpose of 

 the structure. It is intended to be entered only by persons 

 who desire to see the animals, and all others must pass around 

 it, by one or the other of the two very direct promenades 

 which will be provided. The employees of the Park are 

 strictly forbidden to consider the walk through the build- 

 ing as a convenient highway, and visitors are requested to 

 observe the obvious necessities of this case. 



The Indian Elephant, (Elephas indicus), is the universal 

 elephant of captivity, the African species being shown only 

 as a great rarity. For every elephant that comes from 

 Africa, about thirty come from India, and of those about 

 twenty-nine are prosy and unromantic females. In order 

 to secure a male Indian Elephant, it must be specially 

 ordered. 



