388 
EASTERN ETHIOPIA 
XXXI 
proportion to the size of the body. The remarkable 
sub-order of vertebrate animals, Proboscidea^ includes 
the elephants living on the earth to-day and their 
ancestors. These mammals are remarkable for the 
length of their trunks and the size of their tusks. The 
best known ancestor of the elephant is the mammoth ; 
it roamed in the mighty forests wliich formerly covered 
Siberia, and had enormous tusks, some of which weighed 
250 pounds : its remains have been found in Europe, in 
England, and in Ireland. Mammoths existed in the 
Siberian forests in vast numbers, for the fossilised tusks 
of this huge animal have been a regular article of 
commerce for centuries, especially in China and Eussia. 
Dr. Breyne, writing in 1737, states that the teeth of 
mammoths have been “ a remarkable and particular 
curiosity of Siberia.” These teeth are found “ in such 
quantity as is sufficient for trade.” He also mentions 
that the chief failings of mammoth-ivory are brittleness 
and liability to turn yellow on exposure to the weather 
or heat. 
Elephants are strict vegetarians ; they feed on herbage 
as well as on the leaves and soft branches of trees. This 
food is seized by the wonderfully mobile trunk (or 
proboscis) and conveyed to the mouth. The trunk, 
which is formed by a combined prolongation of the nose 
and upper lip, compensates the elephant for the short¬ 
ness and inflexibility of its neck. In Africa elephants 
are fond of bananas and green plants, and when they 
visit the plantations of the natives they not only eat 
bananas freely, but destroy a larger quantity by their 
trampling. These . huge animals congregate in herds 
and make long journeys at night in order to obtain 
water and food. 
When elephants have appeased the pangs of hunger 
and quenched their thirst they sometimes become 
playful. It was officially reported in 1909 that the 
telegraph line on the Bahr-el-Zeraf had been inter- 
