240 MAMMALIA. * [Cuap. VII. 
equal number of female elephants; the former had on a male 
dress, and the latter a female; and on a signal being given 
they stretched forward their trunks in a subdued manner, and 
took their food in great moderation, and not one of them ap- 
peared to be gluttonous greedy, or to snatch at a greater por- 
tion, as did the Persian mentioned by Xenophon. And when 
it was requisite to drink, a bowl was placed by the side of 
each; and inhaling with their trunks they took a draught 
very orderly ; and then they scattered the drink about in fun; 
but not as in insult. Many other acts of a similar kind, both 
clever and astonishing, have persons described, relating to the 
peculiarities of these animals, and I saw them writing letters on 
Roman tablets with their trunks, neither looking awry nor turn- 
ing aside. The hand, however, of the teacher was placed so 
as to be a guide in the formation of the letters; and while it 
‘was writing the animal kept its eye fixed down in an accom- 
plished and scholarlike manner.” 
