THE HIRKARRAH CAMEL. 
207 
had covered a distance of nearly fourteen miles. The 
Mahoot had been afraid to stop the animal’s speed lest 
a sudden check should have thrown it down, which 
would not only have endangered its life, but likewise 
the lives of those who were upon its back. 
The elephant is remarkably surefooted, seldom 
stumbling, and much more rarely falling ; this is 
evidently a wise provision of Providence, as the fall of 
such a huge body could not take place without mis- 
chief. It has an invincible antipathy to the camel, 
and is always very fidgety whenever the latter hap- 
pens to be picketed near it. * 
The Hirkarrah camel is, next to the elephant, per- 
haps the most useful animal in the East, and for 
general purposes even exceeds the latter in utility. 
It is capable of travelling a considerable distance in 
the course of the day : its progress is slow but regular, 
and it will continue the same speed for a great num- 
ber of hours, under the most ardent sun, scarcely 
E In the account of the group of wild elephants which we saw 
in the Dindegul district, I omitted to state that the females are 
always, or, at all events, generally without tusks. I mention 
this circumstance, as in all the encyclopaedias to which I have 
referred, and in several works on natural history, 1 find the 
female described as having tusks, only somewhat smaller than 
the male. Cuvier also is of this opinion, but 1 can only say that 
I never remember to have seen a female elephant in India with 
tusks. She has two long blunt teeth situated exactly where the 
tusks are in the male, but, so far as I have observed, they are 
never used as weapons either of offence or defence, and never ex- 
tend more than three or four inches beyond the lips. Cuvier 
says that some of the females have tusks, by which he would 
seem to imply that they generally have not ; and I have certainly 
always heard those who have lived in the countries where these 
