Chap. III.] 



THE ELEPHANT. 



129 



regarded as more than a common coincidence, that an 

 apparatus, so unique in its purpose and action, should 

 thus have been conferred by the Creator on the three 

 animals which in sultry climates are, by this arrangement, 

 enabled to traverse arid regions in the service of man. 1 

 To show this peculiar organization where it attains its 

 fullest development, I have given a sketch of the water- 

 cells in the stomach of the camel on the preceding page. 



The food of the elephant is so abundant, that in 

 feeding he never appears to be impatient or voracious, 

 but rather to play with the leaves and branches on 

 which he leisurely feeds. In riding by places where a 

 herd has recently halted, I have sometimes seen the bark 

 peeled curiously off the twigs, as though it had been 

 done in mere dalliance. In the same way in eating 

 grass the elephant selects a tussac which he draws from 

 the ground by a dexterous twist of his trunk, and 

 nothing can be more graceful than the ease with which, 

 before conveying it to his mouth, he beats the earth 

 from its roots by striking it gently upon his fore-leg. 

 A coco-nut he first rolls under foot, to detach the strong 

 outer bark, then stripping off with his trunk the thick 

 layer of fibre within, he places the shell in his mouth, 

 and swallows with evident relish the fresh liquid which 

 flows as he crushes it between his grinders. 



The natives of the peninsula of Jaffna always look for 

 the periodical appearance of the elephants, at the precise 



1 The buffalo and the humped water, somewhat more conspicuous 



cattle of India, which are used for than in the rest of their congeners ; 



draught and burden, have, I be- but nothing that approaches in 



lieve, a development of the organi- singularity of character to the 



sation of the reticulum which distinct cavities in the stomach 



enables the ruminants generally to exhibited by the three animals 



endure thirst, and abstain from above alluded to. 



K 



