210 MAMMALIA. [Cuap. VIL 
of the Ceylon animal in war.! This estimate of the 
superiority of the elephant of Ceylon, if it ever prevailed 
in India, was not current there at a very early period ; 
for in the Ramayana, which is probably the oldest epic 
in the world, the stud of Dasartha, the king of Ayodhya, 
was supplied with elephants from the Himalaya and the 
Vindhya Mountains.? I have had no opportunity of test- 
ing by personal observation the justice of the assumption; 
but from all that I have heard of the elephants of the 
continent, and seen of those of Ceylon, I have reasun to 
conclude that the difference, if not imaginary, is except- 
ional, and must have arisen in particular and individual 
instances, from more judicious or elaborate instruction. 
The earliest knowledge of the elephant in Europe 
and the West, was derived from the conspicuous 
position assigned to it in the wars of the East: in 
India, from the remotest antiquity, it formed one of 
the most picturesque, if not the most effective, features 
in the armies of the native princes.’ 
1 The expression of TavERNIER is 
tothe effect thatas compared with all 
others, the elephants of Ceylon are 
“plus courageux dla guerre.” The 
rest of the passage is a curiosity :— 
“Tl faut remarquer ici une chose 
qu’on aura peut-étre de la peine 4 
croire mais qui est toutefois trés- 
véritable: c'est que lorsque quelque 
roi ou quelque seigneur a quelqu’un 
de ces éléphants de Ceylan, et qu’on 
en améne quelqu’autre des lieux 
ot les marchands vont les prendre, 
commed’Achen, de Siam, d’Arakan, 
de Pegu, du royaume de Boutan, 
d’Assam, des terres de Cochin et 
de la coste du Mélinde, dés que les 
éléphants en voient un de Ceylan, 
par un instinct de nature, ils lui 
font la révérence, portant le bout 
de leur trompe 4 la terre et la 
It is more than 
relevant. Il est vrai que les élé- 
phants que les grands seigneurs 
entretiennent, quand on les améne 
devant eux, pour voir s’ils sont en 
bon point, font trois fois une espéce 
de révérence avec leur trompe, ce 
que fai vu souvent; mais ils sont 
stylés 4 cela, et leurs maitres le 
leur enseignent de bonne heure.”— 
Les Six Voyagesde J.B. TavERNIER, 
lib, iii. ch. 20. 
2 Ramayana, sec. vi.; CAREY 
and Mansuman, i. 105; Favcue, 
t. 1. p. 66. 
8 The only mention of the ele- 
phant in Sacred History is in the 
account given in Maccabees of the 
invasion of Egypt by Antiochus, 
who entered it 170 nc, “with 
chariots and elephants, and horse- 
men, and a great navy.’—1 Mace, 
