Chap. VII.] THE ELEPHANT. 
233 
5, in the dog at 2 ; so that conformably to this theory the 
respective normal age for each would be 100 years for 
man, 25 for the horse, and 10 for a dog. As a datum for 
his conclusion, Fleukens cites the instance of one young 
elephant in which, at 26 years old, the epiphyses were 
still distinct, whereas in another, which died at 31, they 
were firm and adherent. Hence he draws the inference 
that the period of completed solidification is thirty years, 
and consequently that the normal age of the elephant is 
one hundred and fifty. 1 
Amongst the Singhalese the ancient fable of the 
elephant attaining to the age of two or three hundred 
years still prevails ; but the Europeans, and those in im- 
mediate charge of tame ones, entertain the opinion that 
the duration of life for about seventy years is common 
both to man and the elephant ; and that before the ar- 
rival of the latter period, symptoms of debility and decay 
ordinarily begin to manifest themselves. Still instances 
are not wanting in Ceylon of trained decoys that have 
lived for more than double the reputed period in actual 
servitude. One employed by Mr, Cripps in the Seven 
Korles was represented by the Cooroowe people to have 
served the king of Kandy in the same capacity sixty 
years before ; and amongst the papers left by Colonel 
Eobertson (son to the historian of " Charles V."), who 
held a command in Ceylon in 1799, shortly after the 
capture of the island by the British, I have found a 
memorandum showing that a decoy was then attached 
to the elephant establishment at Matura, which the 
records proved to have served under the Dutch during 
the entire period of their occupation (extending to 
upwards of one hundred and forty years) ; and it was 
1 Fleurens, De la Longevite Humaine, pp. 82, 89. 
