Chap. 11.] 
ELEPHAJSTTS. 
259 
the flies are crushed between the folds which are thus closed. 
This power serves them in place of tail, mane, and hair.^^ 
Their teeth are very highly prized, and from them we ob- 
tain the most costly materials for forming the statues of the 
gods. Luxury has discovered even another recommendation in 
this animal, having found a particularly delicate flavour in the 
cartilaginous part of the trunk, for no other reason, in my 
belief, than because it fancies itself to be eating ivory.^^ Tusks 
of enormous size are constantly to be seen in the temples ; 
but, in the extreme parts of Africa, on the confines of Ethi- 
opia, they are employed as door-posts for houses ; and Polybius 
informs us, on the authority of the petty king Gulussa,'^^ that 
they are also employed as stakes in making fences for the folds 
of cattle. 
CHAP. 11. (11.) IN WHAT COUNTEIES THE ELEPHANT IS FOUND ,* 
THE ANTIPATHY OF THE ELEPHANT AND THE DEAGON. 
Africa produces elephants, beyond the deserts of the Syrtes, 
and in Mauritania ; they are found also in the countries of the 
^Ethiopians and the Troglodytse, as mentioned above. ''^ But 
it is India that produces the largest,"^^ as well as the dragon,''^ 
which is perpetually at war with the elephant, and is itself 
of so enormous a size, as easily to envelope the elephants 
with its folds, and encircle them in its coils. The contest is 
equally fatal to both ; the elephant, vanquished, falls to the 
earth, and by its weight, crushes the dragon which is entwined 
around it,''^* 
6s Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 1, remarks, that the elephant is the 
least hairy of all animals. — B. 
6^ Cuvier remarks, that the trunk, being composed of a mixture of deli- 
cate muscular fibres and rich fat, would, when properly prepared, aiford an 
article of food that might be very palatable. — B. 
''^ We learn from Livy, B. xUi. c. 23, that Gulussa was the son of Mas- 
sinissa. — B. 
71 In c. 8 of this Book.— B. 
^ We learn from Cuvier, that the elephants of Africa and Asia belong to 
different species, distinguished by the form of the head, and some pecu- 
liarities in the structure of the teeth. — B. 
By the term " dragon," we may suppose that Pliny refers to some 
of the great serpents which exist in hot climates, and are of such vast size, 
that they might perhaps be able to perform some of the exploits here 
ascribed to the dragon. — B. 
This account appears to be entirely without foundation. — B. 
