CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 11. PACHYDERM ATA. 629 
THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT. 
The African Elephant, E. Africanus, as we have said, according to various authorities, is 
somewhat smaller than the Asiatic;* the head is rounded, the front convex instead of concave,, 
and the nails on each hind-foot are three instead of four. It livQs in large herds in Central and 
Soathern Africa, where it is constantly hunted l>y the natives and also by Enropeans, who venture 
into these regions to pursue the various wild beasts which abound there. Its flesh is relished by 
the inhabitauts of many districts in Africa. Major Denham speaks of it as being greatly esteemed 
by the people, and he adds that, though it looted coarse, it was better flavored than any beef he 
found in the country. The ancient Romans considered the trunk as the most delicious part; but 
Levaillant speaks of the foot as a dish for a king, and more recent travelers bestow on it equal 
praise. The disposition of this species is supposed to be more ferocious thau that of the Asiatic 
Elephant, though its habits in a state of nature do not greatly difi'er. It is not now tamed, but 
the Carthagiuians, as well before as after the time of Hannibal, availed themselves of the services 
of this species as the Indians did of those of the Asiatic Elephant. The elephants used by the- 
Ptolemies of Egypt were of this species, as well as those exhibited in the Roman arena by Caesar 
and Pompey, and from this kind principalh-, if not entirely, the ivory for ornamental purposes 
and the statues before alluded to, seems to have been taken. 
The following excellent description of the elephant of Africa is furnished by Cummings. This 
animal, he says, "is widely difi"u,sed through the vast forests, and is met with in herds of various 
numbers. The male is much larger than the female, consequently much more diflftcult to kill. He 
is provided with two enormous tusks. These are long, tapering, and beautifully arched; their 
length averages from six to eight feet, and they weigh from sixty to a hundred pounds each. In 
the vicinity of the equator the elephants attain to a greater size than to the southward, and I am' 
in the possession of a pair of tusks of the African bull elephant, the larger of which measures ten 
feet nine inches in length, and weighs one hundred and seventy-three pounds. The females, un- 
like Asiatic elephants in this respect, are likewise provided with tusks. The price which the 
largest ivory fetches in the English market is from £28 to £32 per hundred and twelve pounds. 
Old bull elephants are found singly or in pairs, or consorting together in small herds, varying from 
* On this point there is some contradiction : Mr. Case, who is an excellent authority, puta the average of the Asiatic- 
Elephant at nine feet high ; Dr. Livingstone says the African Elephant averages nine or ten feet in height. 
