Chap. VII.] THE ELEPHANT. 



233 



5, in the dog at 2 ; so that conformably to this theory the 

 respective normal age for each would be 100 years for 

 man, 25 for the horse, and 10 for a dog. As a datum for 

 his conclusion, Fleukens cites the instance of one young 

 elephant in which, at 26 years old, the epiphyses were 

 still distinct, whereas in another, which died at 31, they 

 were firm and adherent. Hence he draws the inference 

 that the period of completed solidification is thirty years, 

 and consequently that the normal age of the elephant is 

 one hundred and fifty. 1 



Amongst the Singhalese the ancient fable of the 

 elephant attaining to the age of two or three hundred 

 years still prevails ; but the Europeans, and those in im- 

 mediate charge of tame ones, entertain the opinion that 

 the duration of life for about seventy years is common 

 both to man and the elephant ; and that before the ar- 

 rival of the latter period, symptoms of debility and decay 

 ordinarily begin to manifest themselves. Still instances 

 are not wanting in Ceylon of trained decoys that have 

 lived for more than double the reputed period in actual 

 servitude. One employed by Mr. Cripps in the Seven 

 Korles was represented by the Cooroowe people to have 

 served the king of Kandy in the same capacity sixty 

 years before ; and amongst the papers left by Colonel 

 Eobertson (son to the historian of " Charles V."), who 

 held a command in Ceylon in 1799, shortly after the 

 capture of the island by the British, I have found a 

 memorandum showing that a decoy was then attached 

 to the elephant establishment at Matura^ which the 

 records proved to have served under the Dutch during 

 the entire period of their occupation (extending to 

 upwards of one hundred and forty years) ; and it was 



1 Fleueens, De la LongeviU Humaine, pp. 82, 89. 



