118 



MAMMALIA. 



[Chap. HI. 



the latter to communicate with distinctness, orders 

 which are observed with the most implicit obedience by 

 their followers. The following narrative of an adven- 

 ture in the great central forest toward the north of 

 the island, communicated to me by Major Skinner, 

 who was engaged for some time in surveying and 

 opening roads through the thickly- wooded districts there, 

 will serve better than any abstract description to convey 

 an idea of the conduct of a herd on such occasions : — 



"The case you refer to struck me as exhibiting 

 something more than ordinary brute instinct, and ap- 

 proached nearer to reasoning powers than any other 

 instance I can now remember. I cannot do justice to 

 the scene, although it appeared to me at the time to be 

 so remarkable that it left a deep impression in my 

 mind. 



" In the height of the dry season in Neuera-Kalawa, 

 you know the streams are all dried up, and the tanks 

 nearly so. All animals are then sorely pressed for 

 water, and they congregate in the vicinity of those tanks 

 in which there may remain ever so little of the precious 

 element. 



" During one of those seasons I was encamped on the 

 bund or embankment of a very small tank, the water in 

 which was so dried that its surface could not have 

 exceeded an area of 500 square yards. It was the only 

 pond within many miles, and I knew that of necessity a 

 very large herd of elephants, which had been in the 

 neighbourhood all day, must resort to it at night. 



" On the lower side of the tank, and in a line with the 

 embankment, was a thick forest, in which the elephants 

 sheltered themselves during the day. On the upper 

 side and all around the tank there was a considerable 



