Chap. III.] THE ELEPHANT. 99 



the facts been collated, that the elephant of Ceylon was 

 believed " to excel that of Africa in size and strength." 1 

 But so far from equalling the size of the African species, 

 that of Ceylon seldom exceeds the height of nine feet; even 

 in the Hambangtotte country, where the hunters agree 

 that the largest specimens are to be found, the tallest of 

 ordinary herds do not average more than eight feet. 

 Wolf, in his account of the Ceylon elephant 2 , says he 

 saw one taken near Jaffna, which measured twelve feet 

 and one inch high. But the truth is, that the general 

 bulk of the elephant so far exceeds that of the ani- 

 mals which we are accustomed to see daily, that the ima- 

 gination magnifies its unusual dimensions ; and I have 

 seldom or ever met with an inexperienced spectator who 

 did not unconsciously over-estimate the size of an ele- 

 phant shown to him, whether in captivity or in a state 

 of nature. Major Denham would have guessed some 

 which he saw in Africa to be sixteen feet in height, but 



1748-52, p. 565. A probable source Qc, p. 164 r "Wolf was a native of 



of these false estimates is men- Mecklenburg, who arrived in Ceylon 



tioned by a writer in the Indian about 1750, as chaplain in one of 



Sporting Review for Oct. 1857. the Dutch East Indiamen, and hav- 



" Elephants were measured for- ing been taken into the government 



merly, and even now, by natives, employment, he served for twenty 



as to their height, by throwing a years at Jaffna, first as Secretary 



rope over them, the ends brought to the Governor, and afterwards in 



to the ground on each side, and an office the duties of which he 



half the length taken as the true describes to be the examination 



height. Hence the origin of ele- and signature of the "writings 



phants fifteen and sixteen feet which served to commence a suit 



high. A rod held at right angles in any of the Courts of justice." 



to the measuring rod, and parallel His book embodies a truthful and 



to the ground, will rarely give generally accurate account of the 



more than ten feet, the majority northern portion of the island, 



being under nine." — P. 159. with which alone he was conver- 



1 Shaw's Zoology. Lond. 1806. sant, and his narrative gives a 

 vol. i. p. 216 ; Armandi, Hist, curious insight into the policy of 

 Milit. des Elejphans, liv. i. ch. i. the Dutch Government, and of the 

 p. 2. condition of the natives under their 



2 Wolf's Life and Adventures, dominion. 



H 2 



