II 
THE ELEPHANT 
37 
in India. Even without a greater weight than its 
rider, the elephant exhibits signs of distress when 
marching after 9 a.m. At such times it is disagree¬ 
able, as the animal has a peculiar habit of sucking 
water through the trunk from a supply contained 
within the stomach, and this it syringes with great 
force between its fore legs, and against its flanks to 
cool its sides with the ejected spray. The rider 
receives a portion of the fluid in his face, and as the 
action is repeated every five minutes, or less, the 
operation is annoying. 
It is a curious peculiarity in the elephant that it is 
enabled to suck up water at discretion simply by 
doubling the trunk far down the throat, and the fluid 
thus procured has no disagreeable smell, although 
taken direct from the creature’s stomach. In every 
way the elephant is superior to most animals in the 
freedom from any unpleasant odour. Its skin 
is sweet, and the hand retains no smell whatever, 
although you may have caressed the trunk or any 
other portion of the body. It is well known that a 
horse is exceedingly strong in odour, and that 
nothing is more objectionable than the close proximity 
of a stable, or even of a large number of horses 
picqueted in the open, — I have frequently been 
camped where fifty or sixty elephants were for several 
days in the same position within a hundred yards 
of the tents, and still there was no offensive scent. 
The food of an elephant is always fresh and clean, 
and the digestive functions are extremely rapid. 
The mastication is a rough system of grinding, and 
