370 ASIATIC AND AFRICAN ELEPHANTS. Chap. XXVITI. 



ness of the rule with regard to full-grown animals. The 

 greater size of the African elephant in the south would at 

 once distinguish it from the Indian one ; but here they 

 approach more nearly to each other in bulk, a female being 

 about as large as a common Indian male. But the ear of the 

 African is an external mark which no one will mistake even 

 in a picture. That of the female now killed was 4 feet 5 

 inches in depth, and 4 feet in horizontal breadth, and I have 

 seen a native creep under one so as to be quite covered by it. 

 The ear of the Indian variety is not more than a third of this 

 size. The representation of elephants on ancient coins shows 

 that this important characteristic was distinctly recognised ; 

 indeed, Cuvier remarked that it was more familiar to Aristotle 

 than to Buffon. 



Having been anxious to learn whether the African elephant 

 had ever been tamed, I am enabled to give the reader con- 

 clusive evidence on this point. For in two medals represented 

 in Admiral Smyth's ' Descriptive Catalogue of his Cabinet of 

 Roman and Imperial large Brass Medals,' tame elephants are 



introduced, the ears of which mark them out as belonging 

 to the true African variety. One of the coins is of Faustina 

 senior, the other of Septimius Severus. struck a.d. 197. The 

 attempt to tame this most useful animal has never been made 

 at the Cape, nor has a specimen ever been exhibited in 

 England. 



The abundance of food in this country, as compared with 

 the south, would lead one to suppose that animals here must 

 attain a much greater size ; but actual measurement now 

 confirms the imnression made on my mind by the mere sight 



