110 THE ELEPHANT OF INDIA. 
collection of Petersburgh possesses a skeleton 
fourteen feet high, and one or two are recorded 
of thirteen feet and a half. The young animal 
grows very rapidly at first ; by the second year 
it has reached a height of four feet ; after this 
period, it increases more slowly, till it has reached 
twenty or twenty-two years. They are suckled 
for two years ; and, in a wild state, the young 
run for suck indiscriminately to any female without 
regard to the mother, and thus the cry of distress 
from any of the young, generally arouses the 
herd. The tusks are shed about the twelfth or 
thirteenth year. The cheek teeth appear about 
six or seven weeks after birth. 
Like other animals, the Elephant is subject 
to variation. Difference of the general colour 
is frequently seen, and some of a reddish hue 
are met with ; but this has been attributed to 
adventitious matter received upon the skin by 
rubbing, though, as a variety, it is still asserted by 
some to exist naturally. A similar kind is found 
in Africa. But the white Elephant, occasioned 
by albynism, is the most valuable, held even in 
veneration, and always brings a most extravagant 
price. The different direction of the tusks has 
also given rise to different names : of those the 
most esteemed have the tusks nearly horizontal, 
and by the native princes they are frequently 
ornamented, and bear trinkets suspended. 
