128 
ELEPHANT. 
the end of its trunk into the wafer , and sucks, 
up just as much as fills that great fleshy tube 
completely. It then lifts up its head with the 
trunk full, and turning the point into its mouth, 
as if it intended to swallow trunk and all, it 
drives the point below the opening of the wind, 
pipe. The trunk being in this position and still 
full of water, the elephant then blows strongly 
into it at the other end, which forces the water 
it contains into the throat, down which it is heard 
to pour with a loud gurgling noise, which conti- 
nues till the whole is blown down. From this 
manner of drinking, some have been led into an 
opinion that the young elephant sucks with its 
trunk and not with its mouth ; this, however, is 
a fact which no traveller has hitherto had an 
opportunity of seeing, and it must be referred to 
some future accident to determine. 
The hide of the elephant is as remarkable as 
any other part. It is not covered over with hair 
as in the generality of quadrupeds, but is nearly 
bare. Here and there indeed, a few bristles are 
seen growing in the scars and wrinkles of the 
body, and very thinly scattered over the rest of 
the skin ; but in general the head is dry, rough, 
and wrinkled, and resembling more the bark of 
an old tree than the skin of an animal. This 
grows thicker every year ; and by a constant 
addition of substance, it at length contracts that 
disorder well known by the name of the elephan- 
tiasis, or Arabian leprosy ; a disease to which 
nian, as well as the elephant, is often subject. 
In order to prevent this, the Indians rub the 
elephant with oil, and frequently bathe it to pre- 
serve its pliancy. To the inconveniences of this 
disorder is added another, arising from the great 
sensibility of those parts that are not callous-, 
Upon these the flies settle in great abundance. 
