Chap, in.] 



THE ELEPHANT. 



Ill 



enabled, on uneven ground, to lift his feet, which are 

 tender and sensitive, with delicacy, and plant them 

 with such precision as to ensure his own safety as 

 well as that of objects which it is expedient to avoid 

 touching. 



A herd of elephants is a family, not a group whom 

 accident or attachment may have induced to associate 

 together. Similarity of features and caste attest that, 

 among the various individuals which compose it, there 

 is a common lineage and relationship. In a herd of 



ever, in such precipitous ground is but slopes along the face of the 

 not straight from top to bottom, bank, descending till the animal 



gains the level below. This an 

 elephant has done, at an angle of 

 45 degrees, carrying a kowdah, its 

 occupant, his attendant, and sport- 

 ing apparatus ; and in a much less 

 time than it takes to describe the 



operation." I have observed that 

 an elephant in descending a de- 

 clivity uses his knees, on the side 

 next the bank ; and his feet on the 

 lower side only. 



