ELEPHANT — EMOTIONS. 
395 
Another highly curious trait in the emotional psycho- 
logy of the elephant is the readiness with which the huge 
animal expires under the mere influence of what the 
natives call a 6 broken heart.’ The facts on this head are 
without a parallel in any other animal, and are the more 
remarkable from the fact that, so far as natural length of 
life is any token, the elephant may be said to have more 
vitality, or innate power of living, than any other terres- 
trial mammal. Again, to quote from Sir E. Tennent 
Amongst the last of the elephants noosed was the rogue. 
Though far more savage than the others, he joined in none of 
their charges and assaults on the fences, as they uniformly drove 
him off, and would not permit him. to enter their circle. When 
dragged past another of his companions in misfortune, who was 
lying exhausted on the ground, he flew upon him and attempted 
to fasten his teeth in his head ; this was the only instance of 
viciousness which occurred during the progress of the corral. 
When tied up and overpowered, he was at first noisy and violent, 
but soon lay down peacefully, a sign, according to the hunters, 
that his death was at hand. Their prognostication was correct ; 
he continued for about twelve hours to cover himself with dust 
like the others, and to moisten it with water from his trunk ; 
but at length he lay exhausted, and died so calmly, that having 
been moving but a few moments before, his death was only per- 
ceived by the myriads of black flies by which his body was 
almost instantly covered, although not one was visible a moment 
before. 1 
But this peculiarity is not confined to rogue elephants. 
Thus Captain Yule, in his ‘ Narrative of an Embassy to 
Ava in 1855,’ records an illustration of this tendency of 
the elephant to sudden death. One newly captured, the 
process of taming which was exhibited to the British 
Envoy, 6 made vigorous resistance to the placing of a collar 
on its neck, and the people were proceeding to tighten it, 
when the elephant, which had lain down as if quite ex- 
hausted, reared suddenly on the hind quarters, and fell on 
its side — dead ! ’ 
Mr. Strachan noticed the same liability of the ele- 
phants to sudden death from very slight causes. 6 Of the 
1 Natural History of Ceylon , p, 196, 
