, 1882-04-08

Oped IN his early adolescence into an
amazing, almost ~pOrtentous, beast. There
is no elephant like him in Europe, and,
we imagine, very few indeed like him any.
where, certainly not in the greatest collec-
tons in the world,-the elephant kheddahs
maintained by the Government of India.
He is, though probably not quite full
grown, nearly twelve feet high, a height
our readers will realize if they glance up
to their own ceiling, and reflect Where the
back of the elephant would be, and re.
member how big a dray-horse twice his
usual height would look. Outside his den,
"Jumbo" gives the impression of a moving
mountain, makes raw spectators cape
with content and a sense Of g~ratified ideals,
and inspires 10 children d feeling that to
mount hum is a feat Of heroism to be re-
counted even in a%fterlife. They are de-
lighted with him after they get down, for
they feel they have done something brave
aud risky, and if they had ever seen
" Jumbo" in the tunnel with a loaded
Wagon passing overhead, they would be
confirmed in that impression. Unless
they take to whaling, he is the biggest
living thing tIey are ever likely to
touch or see.
Have not the Managers OF the Gardens
been a little hasty in selling such a beast Z
We think nothing Of the chiIdreh's Letters
to the papers, though they are very natural,
for New York children want an,usemeuts
and instruction as much as Lnndoner>;
nor much of the compI4irt that " jumbo
would evidently rather stay. So would
the gran bull of ducal pedigree who goes
next week to Australia, and the grander
mare who came last week from Tunis,
aud had, perhaps, lived in a tent half her
lite and so also would conscrjpts, nava!
officers, and Cetewayo. One must sub
ordinate private feelings of that kind to
the ge> al good, aud II is for elephants
general good thai they should be greatly
sought after aud fetch high prices and
draw great crowds, aud SO Justify careful
fee ling, good treatment, aud generous
keer, otherw Sc their only destiny would
be mathematics. But sJill, have not the
Managers OF the Gardens been a little
hasly? They know their own business,
ard are compelled il the Interest Of their
collection, to husband their resources /;
but, nevertheless, they occupy public
ground, and always acknowledge a res
possibility to the public tor their general
management. l. it wise to send away
from England a specimen which, in all
human probability, will never be replac-
ed Elephants are perishing with extra
ordinary r%apidity. The late Mr.. Blyth,
tne celebrated naturalist of Calcutta, had,
we remember, a theory that owing to
TODD difficulties, the rate oI multiplication
of elephants would grow slower; but
even il he was wrong, the beasts are hunt
ed down after a fashion which, as the
price Of ivory increases, becomes more
melciless every year. Mr.. Gibson, in his
paper on the eIephan', in the "Encyclo-
pRdia Britannica says that England
alone consumes 100000 Ib. of ivory
year, to OBTAIN which 10000 elephants
muse be slain, and estimates the annual
destruction in all parts OF the word, at
10O,0 900 beasts. The beast breeds slowly
in the Jungle, and not at all in coufne-
ment, even in his own climate, though
two unexplained exceptions nave occurred
IN America, and it IS nearly certain that
in another century, whsn " Jumbo" has
arrived at . green old age-elephants are
believed to live $50 years, aud certainly
live above l30-Fhe animal will, with lhe
exception OF the few in confinement. have
totally ceased to exist. There are not,
aud WILL not be, 1O,0 900 elephants to
supply the century'S demand, while every
rise in the nrice of ivory and every I'M