Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1860-02-29

iphant may be seen pictured having the end
of his trunk trumpet shaped. A groan
from the throat expresses suffering. A
twitter with the lips. defined by the word
prut is the low word of alarm which ele.
plants pass from one to another when any.
thing unusual appears in the forest A
night alarm that hurries them beyond this
note of caution excites them to produce a
booming like the sound of an empty tun
struck with a mallet. One observer be.
ieves this noise to be made by the elephant
beating on his side with his proboscis-
Another gentleman has seen the sound pro,
juced by striking the ground forcibly with
the point of the trunk, which is then raised
and pushed in the direction of the threat
ened danger, as if to detect its nature by
the sense of smell. When this sound i;
heard in the woods, believing and trum,
peting are usually mingled with it
! Again, it is remarkable that while an
elephant disturbed in the jungle will burst
away with rush that seems to lear all
down before him, the noise often sinks rap.
idly int: absolut stiffness, and the animal
steals quietly away, carrying his enOrmOu;
weight without a sound. and almost with
out leaving the trace of disturbed foliage
behind.
Eight or nine feet is the full height of .
CeylOn elephant, and the African elephant
does not become much taller; although the
impression of much greater height is usual
ly given by the unusual bulk and stature
There was an old fable, long believed, that
the elephant having no joints in his leg
slept leaning against tree. OF course he
has joints, those of the hind leg bending as
the legs of a man do, but the straight ar
rangement of the solid bones makes the
four legs very complete pillars of support.
An elephant sleeps with nearly as much
ease standing and reclining, and when
tanned will perhaps sleep standing for
months together. When free in the woods,
he may be sometimes come upon asleep af
ter the manner described in old fables,
prOpped upright against rock or tree
Elephants play in the night, and in the
daytime often are so tired and sleepy that
they will go to sleep while rubbing them
selves against rock or tree. Our poets
have not forgotten to apply the notion of a
mighty animal whose legs are for necessi-
ty, not fixture So firm are the pillars Of
the creatures legs. that it will die on Its
feet, and when dead remain standing.
But this strength does not make them
less available for active use. 1t is still
commonly supposed, as was taught in the
book on Menageries, published by the So
ciety for the Diffusion of Useful Knowl-
edge, that an elephants legs arc formed
more for strength than fexibility, and ft-
ted to bear an enormous weight upon a
level surface. without the necessity of as
cending or descending great activities. =
The truth is. that he is a famous climber.
Wherever the hardest man can pull him
self up or let himself down, the elephant
can 60, if there be only space to admit. his
bulk, and strength Of ground to bear his
weight. The human fexure of his hind
legs enables him, in descending precipices,
to drag them cautiously after him, and
bring them slowly under him. With his
fore legs he dexterously breaks for himself
as he goes, the footing that he does not
find. Upon the summit of Adams Peak.
not easily climbed by mans foot. the ele-
plant has left his track. In fact, as be-
fore said, he prefers the higher mountain
soil. This is as true of the elephant of
India as in CeylOn.
A herd of elephants is a family, not an
accidental group of friends. The family
likenesses usually may be seen in it. a
like popularity of the trunk, it may be, or
one color in all the eyes, or a resemblance
in the slope or form of back or forehead
Herds will meet and unite at the pools in
bodies of perhaps one or two hundred, but,
in separating. each holds to his own A
herd usually contains ten or twenty indi-
vilua s, and there is little variation in its
number Females form its majority, and
the young of the herd are cared for by all
its females, not alone by the mother. An
elephant separated from its herd by an ac-
cident, or loss of its mate, is not allowed
to Join another, becomes solitary, and more
or less vicious. Such an elephant, almost
universally male, is called in CeylOn hOra,
or rogue, and is greater object Of terror
to the natives than q hundred wild ele-
plants in their ordinary state. The rogue
elephants haunt and destroy plantations,
lose their fear of man, and have even been
known to carry off sheaf of rice from the
midst of the reapcrs. Wild elephants in
the herd respect, to very singular degree,
cultivated fields. The lightest fence ex-
cludes them. Bound tank freluented at
night by great nu6bcrs of them rice was
sown in the mud, in small fields thin
ly fenced, with passages between for the
wild elephants who come down to the wa
ter. There was never fence broken or
of rice stolen, although after the
harvest they all eagerly took possession Of
the ground as cleaners. The elephants
will travel far on cleaning expeditions, but
to the crop of which they t4ke the leavings
with so great 4 relish shey will do no hurt
whatever