GREAT ELEPHANT. 223 



to the Mooknah, whose tusks are not larger than 

 those of some females. An Elephant is said to 

 be perfect when his ears are large and rounded, 

 not ragged or indented at the margin: his eyes 

 of a dark hazel-colour, free from specks : the roof 

 of his mouth and his tongue without dark or 

 blackish spots of any considerable size : his trunk 

 large : his tail long, with a tuft of hair reaching 

 nearly to the ground. There must be five nails 

 on each of his fore feet, and four on each of the 

 hind ones: his head well set on, and carried ra- 

 ther high: the arch or curve of his back rising 

 gradually from the shoulder to the middle, and 

 thence descending to the insertion of the tail; and 

 all his joints firm and strong. In one variety of 

 the Elephant the tusks point downwards, projecting 

 only a little way beyond the trunk. The tusks in 

 Elephants are fixed very deep in the upper jaw; 

 and the root or upper part, which is hollow, and 

 filled with a core, goes as high as the insertion 

 of the trunk, round the margin of the nasal open- 

 ing to the throat; which opening is just below the 

 protuberance of the forehead. Through this 

 opening the Elephant breathes, and by its means 

 he sucks up water into his trunk : between it and 

 the roots of the tusks there is only a thin bony 

 plate. The first or milk-tusks of an Elephant ne- 

 ver grow to any considerable size, but are shed 

 between the first and second year, when not two 

 inches in length. The time at which the tusks 

 cut the gum varies considerably: sometimes a 

 young Elephant has his tusks at ^vq months old, 

 and sometimes not till seven. Even in a foetus, 



