Chap. VII.] 
THE ELEPHANT. 
229 
connexion between the pulp and the ivory. But if, as 
there seems no reason to doubt, these delicate nervous 
processes traverse the tusk by means of the numerous 
tubes already described, if attacked by caries the pain 
occasioned to the elephant would be excruciating-. 
As to maintaining a stud of elephants for the purposes 
to which they are now assigned in Ceylon, there may 
be a question on the score of prudence and economy. 
In the rude and unopened parts of the country, where 
rivers are to be forded, and forests are only traversed 
by jungle paths, their labour is of value, in certain 
contingencies, in the conveyance of stores, and in the 
earlier operations for the construction of fords and 
rough bridges of timber. But in more highly civilised 
districts, and wherever macadamised roads admit of 
the employment of horses and oxen for draught, I appre- 
hend that the services of elephants might, with advan- 
tage, be gradually reduced, if not altogether dispensed 
with. 
The love of the elephant for coolness and shade 
renders him at all times more or less impatient of work 
in the sun, and every moment of leisure he can snatch 
is employed in covering his back with dust, or fanning 
himself to diminish the annoyance of the insects and 
heat. From the tenderness of his skin and its liability 
to sores, the labour in which he can most advantageously 
be employed is that of draught ; but the reluctance of 
horses to meet or pass elephants renders it difficult to 
work the latter with safety on frequented roads. Be- 
sides, were the full load which an elephant is capable of 
drawing, in proportion to his muscular strength, to be 
placed upon waggons of corresponding dimension, the 
injury to the roads would be such that the wear and 
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