STORY OF THE ELEPHANT. 
Everybody knows that the elephant is the largest of living animals, that 
his tusks are ivory and that he has enormous strength. Many other things 
the reader knows of this big beast, and yet this story is written for the pur¬ 
pose of describing scenes and incidents, in which I took a prominent part, 
new and novel to you. The years I lived in India and along the upper Nile 
have made me familiar with the animal and have given me an opportunity 
to study him in nature’s domain. The elephant in captivity undergoes many 
changes in disposition and act. 
The deep and widespread interest in the elephant, which surpasses that 
accorded any other animal, is not misplaced, since the elephant is without 
exception the most extraordinary of the brute creation. The name pachy¬ 
derm is frequently used in describing the elephant, but it is no more applic¬ 
able than would be a half dozen others. Pachyderm means thick-skinned, 
and describes one quality of the animal, for the skin of the elephant is thicker 
and tougher than that of any other of the animals with the exception of the 
rhinoceros and the hippopotamus. 
Much has been written about the size attained by the elephant, but nothing 
is positively known, for no animal in captivity will attain the growth it will 
in its native state, and it is plain that there may be larger elephants still in the 
forest and jungle than were ever killed by the European hunters. The fact 
that tusks larger than those ever found by the white hunters are often 
brought to the coast by the natives of Africa give evidence of this. 
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