so 
MAMMALIA. 
[Chap. II. 
But it is manifestly inconsistent with the idea that tusks 
were given to the elephant to assist him in digging for 
his food, to find that the females are less bountifully 
supplied with them than the males, whilst the necessity 
for their use extends equally to both sexes. The same 
argument serves to demonstrate the fallacy of the con- 
jecture, that the tusks of the elephant were given to 
him as weapons of offence, for if such were the case the 
vast majority in Ceylon, males as well as females, would 
be left helpless in presence of an assailant. But although 
in their conflicts with one another, those which are pro- 
vided with tusks may occasionally push with them 
clumsily at their opponents ; it is a misapprehension to 
imagine that tusks are designed specially to serve " in 
warding off the attacks of the wily tiger and the furious 
rhinoceros, often securing the victory by one blow which 
transfixes the assailant to the earth." 1 
governorship of the Portuguese set- 
tlements at Mozambique, told me, 
in 1848, that he had been requested 
to procure two tusks of the largest 
size, and straightest possible shape, 
which were to be formed into a 
cross to surmount the high altar of 
the cathedral at Groa : he succeeded 
in his commission, and sent two, 
one of which was 180 pounds, and 
the other 170 pounds' weight, with 
the slightest possible curve. In a 
periodical, entitled The Friend, 
published in Ceylon, it is stated in 
the volume for 1837 that the officers 
belonging to the ships Quorrah and 
Alburhak, engaged in the Niger 
Expedition, were shown by a na- 
tive king two tusks, each two feet 
and a half in circumference at the 
base, eight feet long, and weighing 
upwards of 200 pounds. (Vol. i. 
p. 225.) Eroderip, in his Zoo- 
logical Recreations, p. 255, says a 
tusk of 350 pounds' weight was 
sold at Amsterdam, but he does 
not quote his authority. 
1 Menageries, $c, published by 
the Society for the Diffusion of 
Useful Knowledge, vol. i. p. 68 : 
"The Elephant," ch. iii. It will 
be seen that I have quoted re- 
peatedly from this volume, because 
it is the most compendious and 
careful compilation with which I 
am acquainted of the information 
previously existing regarding the 
elephant. The author incorporates 
no speculations of his own, but has 
most diligently and agreeably ar- 
ranged all the facts collected by 
his predecessors. The story of 
antipathy between the elephant 
and rhinoceros is probably borrowed 
from -ZElian de Nat., lib. xvii. c. 
44. 
