94 



MAMMALIA. 



[Chap. 111. 



CHAP. III. 

 THE ELEPHANT. 



Habits when Wild. 



Although found generally in warm and sunny climates, 

 it is a mistake to suppose that the elephant is partial 

 either to heat or to light. In Ceylon, the mountain tops, 

 and not the sultry valleys, are its favourite resort. In 

 Oovah, where the elevated plains are often crisp with 

 the morning frost, and on Pedura-talla-galla, at the 

 height of upwards of eight thousand feet, they are 

 found in herds, whilst the hunter may search for them 

 without success in the hot jungles of the low country. 

 No altitude, in fact, seems too lofty or too chill for the 

 elephant, provided it affords the luxury of water in 

 abundance ; and, contrary to the general opinion that 

 the elephant delights in sunshine, it seems at all times 

 impatient of glare, and spends the day in the thickest 

 depth of the forests, devoting the night to excursions, 

 and to the luxury of the bath, in which it also indulges 

 occasionally by day. This partiality for shade is doubt- 

 less ascribable to the animal's love of coolness and soli- 

 tude ; but it is not altogether unconnected with the 

 position of the eye, and the circumscribed use which its 

 peculiar mode of life permits it to make of the faculty 

 of sight. 



