292 
THE ELEPHANT. 
then laying hold of the trunk, pulls it to the 
ground. Many of the larger Mimosa, however, 
resist all his efforts, and it is, therefore, only after 
heavy rains, when the ground is soft and loose, 
that he can successfully attempt the operation. 
The elephant consumes an immense quantity of 
food, and passes the greater part of both day and 
night in feeding. 
The elephant does not ruminate, and has but one 
stomach. This want, however, is amply supplied 
by the magnitude and width of his intestines, which 
are formed on the same principle as those of the 
horse. “ The colon of animals that live upon the 
same species of food,” observes Sir Everard Home, 
“ is of greater length in proportion to the scanti¬ 
ness of the supply. Amongst quadrupeds, this may 
be illustrated by the length of the colon in the 
elephant, being only twenty feet six inches, while 
in the dromedary it is forty-two. The first inhabits 
the fertile woods of Asia, the latter, the arid 
deserts of Arabia. Many other remarkable facts 
and striking analogies make it clear that some 
process goes on in the' colon, from which a 
secondary supply of nourishment is produced.” 
Though water is indispensable to the elephant, 
he would not seem to require so constant and 
regular a supply as most other animals. In regions 
where he is subject to persecution, he, it is said, 
usually passes the day in lonely and secluded places, 
far distant from the river or the fountain, which he 
only visits during the hours of darkness. In dry 
and warm weather this occurs nightly, but if the 
