148 
MAMMALIA. 
[Chap. IV. 
evince on the approach of man, they exhibit no indication 
of hostility or thirst for blood. 
An ordinary traveller seldom comes upon elephants 
unless after sunset or towards daybreak, as they go to or 
return from their nightly visits to the tanks : but when 
by accident a herd is disturbed by day, they evince, if 
unattacked, no disposition to become assailants ; and if 
the attitude of defence which they instinctively assume 
prove sufficent to check the approach of the intruder, no 
further demonstration is to be apprehended. 
Even the hunters who go in search of them find them 
in positions and occupations altogether inconsistent with 
the idea of their being savage, wary, or revengeful. 
Their demeanour when undisturbed is indicative of 
gentleness and timidity, and their actions bespeak las- 
situde and indolence, induced not alone by heat, but 
probably ascribable in some degree to the fact that 
the night has been spent in watchfulness and amuse- 
ment. A few are generally browsing listlessly on the 
trees and plants within reach, others fanning themselves 
with leafy branches, and a few are asleep ; whilst the 
young run playfully among the herd, the emblems of 
innocence, as the older ones are of peacefulness and 
gravity. 
Almost every elephant may be observed to exhibit 
some peculiar action of the limbs when standing at rest ; 
some move the head monotonously in a circle, or from 
right to left ; some swing their feet back and forward ; 
others flap their ears or sway themselves from side to side, 
or rise and sink by alternately bending and straightening 
the fore knees. As the opportunities of observing this 
custom have been almost confined to elephants in cap- 
tivity, it has been conjectured to arise from some morbid 
