276 AFRICAN AND CEYLON ELEPHANTS. [chap. vii. 
have tap-roots ; thus the powerful tusks of the ele¬ 
phants, applied as crowbars at the roots, while others 
pull at the branches with their trunks, will effect the 
destruction of a tree so large as to appear invulnerable. 
The Ceylon elephant rarely possessing tusks, cannot 
destroy a tree thicker than the thigh of an ordi¬ 
nary man. 
In Ceylon, I have seldom met old bulls in parties— 
they are generally single or remain in pairs ; but, in 
Africa, large herds are met with, consisting entirely of 
bulls. I have frequently seen sixteen or twenty 
splendid bulls together, presenting a show of ivory 
most exciting to a hunter. The females in Africa con¬ 
gregate in vast herds of many hundreds, while in 
Ceylon the herds seldom average more than ten. 
The elephant is by far the most formidable of all 
animals, and the African variety is more dangerous 
than the Indian, as it is next to impossible to kill it 
by the forehead shot. The head is so peculiarly 
formed, that the ball either passes over the brain, or 
lodges in the immensely solid bones and cartilages 
that contain the roots of the tusks. I have measured 
certainly a hundred bull tusks, and I have found them 
buried in the head a depth of twenty-four inches. 
One large tusk, that measured 7 ft. 8 in. in length, and 
22 inches in girth, was imbedded in the head a depth 
