134 



MAMMALIA. 



[Chap. III. 



higher degree of development consequent on his more 

 intimate domestication and association with man. 



One remarkable fact was called to my attention by a 

 gentleman who resided on a coffee plantation at Kassawe, 

 one of the loftiest mountains of the Ambogammoa range. 

 More than once during the terrific thunder-bursts that 

 precede the rains at the change of each monsoon, he ob- 

 served that the elephants in the adjoining forest hastened 

 from under cover of the trees and took up their station 

 in the open ground, where I saw them on one of these 

 occasions collected into a group ; and here, he said, it 

 was their custom to remain till the lightning had ceased, 

 when they retired again into the jungle. 1 It must be 

 observed, however, that showers, and especially light 

 drizzling rain, are believed to bring the elephants from 

 the jungle towards pathways or other openings in the 

 forest; — and hence, in places infested by them, timid 

 persons are afraid to travel in the afternoon during 

 uncertain weather. 



When free in its native woods the elephant evinces 

 rather simplicity than sagacity, and its intelligence 

 seldom exhibits itself in cunning. The rich profusion in 

 which nature has supplied its food, and anticipated its 

 every want, has made it independent of those devices 

 by which carnivorous animals provide for their sub- 

 sistence; and, from the absence of all rivalry between 

 it and the other denizens of the plains, it is never 

 required to resort to artifice for self-protection. For 

 these reasons, in its tranquil and harmless life, it may 

 appear to casual observers to exhibit even less than 



1 The elephant is believed by the of rain; and the Tamils have a 

 Singhalese to express his uneasi- proverb, — "Listen to the elephant, 

 ness by his voice, on the approach rain is coming. 11 



