ELEPHANT. 
131 
portion to their size..; ■•and /when they exceed a 
certain bulk, like jewels, their value then rises as 
the fancy is pleased to estimate. 
The largest are entirely kept for the service of 
princes ; and are maintained with the utmost 
magnificence, and at the greatest expence. The 
usual colour of the elephant is a dusky blacky 
but some are said to be >vhite ; and the price of 
one of these is inestimable. Such a one is pecu- 
liarly appropriated for the monarch’s own riding ; 
he is kept in a palace, attended by the nobles, and 
almost adored by the people. Some have said 
that these white elephants are larger than the 
rest ; others assert that they are less ; and still* 
others entirely doubt their existence. 
As the art of war is but very little improved 
in Asia, there are few princes of the East who do 
, not procure and maintain as many elephants as 
they are able, and place great confidence on their 
assistance in an engagement. For this purpose 
they are obliged to take them wild in their native 
forests, and tame them ; for the elephant never 
breeds in a state of servitude. It is one of the 
most striking peculiarities in this extraordinary 
creature, that his generative powers totally fail 
when he comes under the dominion of man ; as if 
he seemed unwilling to propagate a race of slaves, 
to increase the pride of his conqueror. There is, 
perhaps, no other quadruped that will not breed 
in its own native climates, if indulged with a 
moderate share of freedom ; and we know that 
many of them will copulate in every climate. 
The elephant alone has never been seen to breed ; 
and though he has been reduced under the obedi- 
ence of man for ages, the duration of pregnancy 
in the female still remains a secret. Aristotle, 
indeed, asserts, that she goes two years with 
young ; that she continues to suckle her young for 
