THE ELEPHANT. 45 



THE ELEPHANT, 



IN THE COLLECTION OF MR. WOMBWELL. 



This animal, on account of its size and strength, has attracted the attention of mankind from the 

 earliest ages. By the ancients he was considered as a formidable engine of war, and he is still em- 

 ployed in the service of the Eastern monarchs, being very useful in the transportation of artillery and 

 baggage, and is also considered a necessary appendage to their magnificence. 



The usual height of the elephant is nine or ten feet, although in some countries he is said to attain 

 the height of twelve feet. His body is very large, and of a clumsy form, his head being rather small 

 in proportion to the size of his body ; his back is arched, and his legs very short and thick. His eyes 

 are very small ; his ears large and pendulous. The trunk may be considered as one of the 

 most wonderful instruments with which nature has gifted any animal, being little inferior in flexibility 

 and utility even to the hand of man. This organ appears to be composed of a great number of 

 flexible rings forming a double tube, ending in a circular tip that is somewhat flattened, and fur- 

 nished with a projecting point, or fleshy moveable hook, of exquisite sensibility, and so pliable, that 

 by means of it the animal can pick up from the ground almost the smallest object. Its lower surface 

 is somewhat flattened, but the upper is of a circular form. The trunk is the principal organ of 

 breathing to the elephant, being terminated by two orifices that are the nostrils. By means of this 

 tube he supplies himself with food, taking hold of it with his trunk, and conveying it into his mouth. 

 The skull of the elephant is extremely thick, but not solid, there being a number of cavernous cells 

 between the outer and inner laminae. The feet of this animal, which are undivided, are edged with 

 five rounded hoofs ; the tale is of a moderate length, and is terminated by a few scattered hairs, very 

 thick, and of a blackish colour. The general colour of the skin is a dusky or blackish-brown, but in 

 some parts of India they are found of a white colour, though this is a rare occurrence. In China a 

 white elephant is considered a royal beast, as no one possesses there the privilege of using a white 

 elephant but the emperor himself. 



The elephant is found on the continent of Asia, in several of the Asiatic islands, especially Ceylon, 

 and in the southern parts of Africa. The Ceylonese .elephants are in general larger than those of 

 Africa. Captain Beaver informs us, that the little island of Bulama, on the western coast of Africa, 

 abounds with them. The ordinary food of these animals consists of herbs, roots, leaves, and the 

 tender branches of trees, which they break off with their trunks. They feed together in considerable 

 herds, and, as they i-equire a large quantity of fodder, frequently change their situation. They usually 

 march in troops, the oldest keeping foremost, and the middle-aged bringing up the rear. The females 

 are placed in the centre, carrying their young firmly held on their trunks. This order they observe 

 when they forage near the haunts of men, but when at liberty to range in extensive desert plains, they 

 are less guarded. They often make great havoc in the cultivated fields, destroying even more with 

 the weight of their enormous feet than they consume as food. They are fond of cool, sequestered 

 places, where they can be sheltered from the mid-day sun, and they love to bathe themselves with 

 water, which they do by pouring it over their bodies with their trunks. The elephant uses many 

 artifices to rid himself of the musquitoes ; he strikes them with his tail, his ears, or his trunk ; he con- 



