6 1 2 
ELEPHANT. 
the tender branches of various trees, as well 
as of grains and fruits. It is for this reason 
that their incursions are so much dreaded in 
plantations of various kinds, where they are 
said occasionally to commit the most violent 
depredations; at the same time, injuring the 
crops by trampling tlxe ground with their 
vast feet. The trunk of the elephant may 
justly be considered as one of tiie miracles 
of nature ; being at once the organ of respi- 
ration, and the instrument by which the ani- 
mal supplies itself with food ; conveying 
whatever it eats into the mouth by its assist- 
ance. By this instrument also it drinks ; first 
sucking up the water by the trunk, and then 
pouring it into the mouth. This wonderful 
organ is composed of a vast number of flexi- 
ble rings ; and consists of a double tube, with 
a somewhat flattened circular tip, furnished 
with a projecting point, or fleshy moveable 
hook, of extreme sensibility, and with which 
it can pick up the smallest object at pleasure. 
The trunk, being flexible in all directions, 
performs the office of a hand and arm. On 
its under surface it is somewhat flattened, and 
is circularly formed on the upper. At the 
end of the trunk are situated the nostrils. 
The teats of the female elephant are two in 
number’ and are situated at a small distance 
behind the fore-legs. The eyes are extreme- 
ly small ; the ears very large, somewhat 
irregularly waved on the edges, and pendu- 
lous. In each jaw are four large and flat 
grinding teeth, with the upper surfaces flat, 
and scored or striated with numerous trans- 
verse furrows. In the upper jaw are the 
two tusks before described. The form of the 
whole animal is extremely awkward ; the 
head very large, the body' very thick, the 
back greatly arched; the legs extremely 
thick, very short ; and the feet slightly di- 
vided into, or rather edged with, five round- 
ed hoofs; the tail is of a moderate length, 
and is terminated by a few scattered hairs, of 
great thickness, antf of a black colour: the 
skin has a few thinly scattered hairs or bris- 
tles dispersed over it, and which are some- 
what more numerous about the head. 
The tales related of the sagacity of the 
elephant are, in all probability, somewhat 
exaggerated, and must consequently be re- 
ceived with a degree of limitation : but there 
is no reason to doubt that they are possessed 
of a greater degree of intelligence than most 
other quadrupeds (the dog excepted) ; and 
that, when in a state of domestication, they 
may be taught to perform many operations, 
requiring not only strength, but skill in their 
execution. It -appears, from the most au- 
thentic information, that they are highly at- 
tached to those who have them under their 
care : that they are grateful for attentions 
shewn them, and mindful of any injury re- 
ceived ; which they generally find some 
means of retaliating. Some elegant anec- 
dotes of this kind are related by Plinv ; and 
tire laborious Aldrovandus has collected ma- 
ny others. The celebrated story of the tay- 
lor of Delhi is a remarkable example of the 
elephant’s sagacity. In that city an ele- 
phant, passing along the streets, put his 
trunk into a taylor’s shop, where several peo- 
ple were at work : one of them pricked the 
end of the trunk with his needie : the ele- 
phant passed on; but, in the first dirty pud- 
tile, (filed his trunk with the water, and re- 
turning, squirted every drop among the 
people who had offended him, and spoiled 
the rich garments they were at work upon. 
It is said that elephants have been taught 
to lade vessels with goods, which they have 
stowed in proper order, and with much ad- 
dress. 
The Indian elephants, but more especially 
those of the island of Ceylon, excel the Afri- 
can elephants in size and strength. Those 
of India are said to carry with ease three or 
four thousand-weight. In a state of nature 
they use the tusks for tearing up trees, and 
the trunk for breaking the branches. It has 
been affirmed that they run as swift as a horse 
can gallop; but Mr. Pennant assures us, that 
what has been said on this subject is a mis- 
take ; and that a nimble Indian can easily 
outstrip them. 
The contrivances for taking elephants are 
various. The Ceylonese sometimes surround 
the woods in bands, and drive with lighted 
torches, and all manner of noises, the ele- 
phants which inhabit them, till they are at 
length entrapped into a particular spot sur- 
rounded with palisades, so as to prevent all 
escape. At other times a kind of decoy, or 
female elephant, is sent out in order to in- 
duce some of the males to pursue her, who 
are by this means secured. When a wild 
elephant is taken, it still remains to reduce it 
to a quiet state ; and to tame it, in order to 
be made useful : this is effected by throwing 
ropes round the legs and body, which are well 
secured ; and two tame elephants, properly 
instructed, are placed on each side. The 
captive animal finds himself gradually so 
fatigued by his ineffectual struggles, and so 
much soothed by the caresses occasionally 
given by the trunks of the tame elephants, by 
the food from time to time presented to him, 
and the water with which he is refreshed by 
pouring it over him, that in the space of some 
days he becomes completely tame, and is 
placed with the rest of the domesticated troop. 
Sometimes, in order to subdue them the more 
effectually, they are deprived of sleep for a 
considerable time. 
Great care is taken by the grandees of 
India in the management and decoration of 
their elephants; which, after their daily feed- 
ing, bathing, oiling, and rubbing, are often 
painted about the head and ears with various 
colours, and their tusks are surrounded with 
rings of gold or silver: and when employed 
in processions, &c. they are clothed in the 
most sumptuous trappings. 
By the ancient Indians they were much used 
in war; and we are told that Porus, the In- 
dian monarch, opposed the passage of Alex- 
ander over the Hydaspes with eighty-five 
elephants. Buffon also imagines that "some 
of the elephants which were taken by Alex- 
ander, and sent into Greece, were em- 
ployed by Pyrrhus against the Romans. The 
Romans received their elephants from Africa, 
and that in great numbers ; since it appears 
that Pompey entertained the people with a 
show of eighteen in the space of five days, 
which were all destroyed in conflicts with 
armed men. Fifty lions were also exhibited 
in the same space. The crying and distress 
of the wounded elephants are said to have ex- 
cited much commiseration among the Roman 
people. It is highly remarkable, if true, that 
the young elephants do not attach themselves 
to their dams in particular, but suck indis- 
criminately the females of the whole herd. 
Mr. Bruce, however, in his Travels, gives a 
particular description of the more than com- 
mon attachment of a young elephant to its 
dam, which it endeavoured to defend, when 
wounded, and with much fierceness assaulted 
the invaders. The young elephants do not 
suck by the trunk, but by the mouth. 
The elephant brings only one young at a 
time ; very rarely two : the ) ouug are about 
three feet high when they are first born, and 
continue growing till they are sixteen or 
twenty years old ; they are said to live a hun- 
dred, or a hundred and twenty years. 
In the Philosophical Transactions for the 
year 1799, we rind some curious particulars 
relative to the natural history of the elephant; 
by Mr. Corse, whose residence in India af- 
forded him opportunities of investigating the 
subject with exactness. 
From these observations it appears that 
something must be subtracted from that ele- 
vated character with which this animal has 
been so frequently honoured ; and that neither 
its docility nor its memory can be allowed a 
very high rank, when compared with those 
of some other animals ; and that the scrupu- 
lous delicacy, which, as it was pretended, for- 
bade all public demonstrations of its passions, 
is a mere fable. A female elephant has also 
been known to forget -her young one, after 
having been separated from it for. the short 
space of only two clays, and to repel its ad- 
vances! An elephant, also, which had es- 
caped from its confinement, has again suffered 
itself to be trepanned, and reconducted to 
its state of captivity. 
Both male and' female elephants, Mr. 
Corse informs us, are divided by the natives 
of Bengal into two casts, viz. the koomareah, 
and the merghee. The first consists of the 
large or full-bodied kind ; the second of the 
more slender, with longer legs and thinner 
trunk in proportion ; it is also a taller animal, 
but not so strong as the former. A large 
trunk is always considered as a great beauty 
in an elephant, so that the koomareah is pre- 
ferred not only on this account, but for his 
superior strength in carrying burthens, &c. 
Many indistinct varieties are again produced 
from the intermixture of these two breeds. 
The torrid zone seems to be the natural 
clime of the elephant, and the most favour- 
able for the production of the largest and 
hardiest race ; and when this animal migrates 
beyond the tropics, the species degenerates. 
On the coast of Malabar elephants are taken 
as far north as the territories of Coorgah 
Rajah; but these, according to Mr. Corse, 
are much inferior to the Ceylonese elephant. 
The tusks in some female elephants are so 
small as not to appear beyond the lip ; whilst 
in others they are large and long, as in 
one variety of the male, called mooknah. 
The grinders are so much alike in both sexes, 
that one description may serve for both. The 
largest tusks, and from which the best ivory 
is supplied, are taken from that kind of male 
elephant, called dauntelah, from this circum- 
stance, in opposition 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 
