GREAT ELEPHANT. 223 
to the Mooknah, whose tusks are not larger than 
those of some females. An Elephant is said to 
be perfect when his ears are large and rounded, 
not ragged or indented at the margin : his eyes 
of a dark hazel-colour, free from specks : the roof 
of his mouth and his tongue without dark or 
blackish spots of any considerable size: his trunk 
large: his tail long, with a tuft of hair reaching 
nearly to the ground. There must be five nails 
on each of his fore feet, and four on each of the 
hind ones: his head well set on, and carried ra- 
ther high: the arch or curve of his back rising 
gradually from the shoulder to the middle, and 
tlience descending to the insertion of the tail; and 
all his joints firm and strong. In one variety of 
the Elephant the tusks point downwards, projecting 
only a little way beyond the trunk. Tlie tusks in 
Elephants are fixed very deep in the upper jaw; 
and the root or upper part, which is hollow, and 
filled Avith a core, goes as high as the insertion 
of the trunk, round the margin of the nasal open- 
ing to the throat; which opening is just below the 
protuberance of the forehead. Through this 
opening the Elephant breatlies, and by its means 
he sucks up water into his trunk : between it and 
the roots of the tusks there is only a thin bony 
plate. The first or milk-tusks of an Elephant ne- 
ver grow to any considerable size, but are shed 
between the first and second year, when not two 
inches in length. The time at which the tusks 
cut the gum varies considerably: sometimes a 
young Elephant has his tusks at five months old, 
and sometimes not till seven. Even in a foetus^ 
