Chap. VII.] THE ELEPHANT. 219 



Of course much must depend on the nature of the timber 

 and the moisture of the soil ; thus a strong tree on the 

 verge of a swamp may be overthrown with greater ease 

 than a small and low one in parched and solid ground. 

 I have seen no " tree " deserving the name, nothing but 

 jungle and brush wood, thrown down by the mere move- 

 ment of an elephant without some special exertion of 

 force. But he is by no means fond of gratuitously tasking 

 his strength ; and food being so abundant that he obtains 

 it without an effort, it is not altogether apparent, even 

 were he able to do so, why he should assail " the largest 

 trees in the forest, " and encumber his own haunts with 

 their broken stems ; especially as there is scarcely any- 

 thing which an elephant dislikes more than venturing 

 amongst fallen timber. 



A tree of twelve inches in diameter resisted successfully 

 the most strenuous struggles of the largest elephant I 

 ever saw led to it ; and when directed by their keepers to 

 clear away jungle, the removal of even a small tree, or 

 a healthy young coco-nut palm, is a matter both of time 

 and exertion. Hence the services of an elephant are of 

 much less value in clearing a forest than in dragging 

 and piling felled timber. But in the latter occupation 

 he manifests an intelligence and dexterity which is sur- 

 prising to a stranger, because the sameness of the oper- 

 ation enables the animal to go on for hours disposing 

 of log after log, almost without a hint or direction from 

 his attendant. For example, two elephants employed 



confined to the mimosas, " immense of their food. Many of the larger 



numbers of which had been torn mimosas had resisted all their 



out of the ground, and placed in efforts ; and indeed it is only after 



an inverted position, in order to heavy rain, when the soil is soft and 



enable the animals to browse at loose, that they ever successfully 



their ease on the soft and juicy attempt this operation." — Pein- 



roots, which form a favourite part gle's Sketches of South Africa. 



