Year: 1860

1t is an old error, extending over all the


years between the days of ELAN and those


of Sir William Jardine. that the elephant


sheds his tusks. The truth is. that he


sheds only the milk tusk whCn very young


Much has been said of the elephant


dislike or dread of other animals, especial.


ly the pig. But in his own forest he Is


fearless. because harmless and unharmed.


L have seer,' says Sir Emerson Tenant,


groups of deer and wild bufalOes reclining


in the sandy bed of river in the dry sea-


son. and elephants plucking the branches


close beside them. They show no i'm


patience in the company of the elk, the


bear and the wild hog and on the other


hand, | have never discovered an instance


in which these animals have evineed any
apprehension Of them. The elephants nat


ural timidity is such that he becomes
alarmed on the appearance in the jungle OF
anY animal with which he is not familiar.
He is said to be afraid of the hol Sc, but
from my own experience should say it is


the horse that is alarmed at the asp ct Of
the el phant; in the same way. from some
unaccountable impulse, the horse has an
ntipathy to the camel, ard evinces ex-
treme impatience both at the sight and
smell of that animal When enraged, an
elephant will not hesitate to charge a rider
Oh horseback, but it is against the man.
and not against the horse, that his fury is
directed; and no instance has been known
of his wantonly assailing horse


A horse that had run away from its
groom was found quietly feeding with a
herd of elephants Pigs constantly are
seen fee ing in peace about the stables of


tame elephants. The dog and horse are
no doubt associated by the elephant with
man, his pursuer. and the barking of a dog
will be sufficient to put a whole herd to
fight. 1t has been suggested also that a
dogs disposition to snap at the elephants
feet increases his dread f him. The elc-
plant is very careful of his foot. more care
full indeed, of that than of his head.


Beyond the difference in the supply of
tusk there are many less apparent, and
some striking differences between the ele-
plants of Africa and of Ceylon. The Cey-
lon elephants have smaller ears, higher and
follower foreheads, and the grinding rid
ges of the teeth transverse instead of loz-
enge Snapped. The Indian elephant is
said to have four nails on the hind foot,
and the African three; but it is part of the
perfection of high-bred elephant in Cey-
lon that there should be five nails on each
foot. all smooth. polished, and round. A
native elephant book, the Hastisiple. de-
tails all the points of high-caste animal,
and adds, 'an elephant with these perfcc-
tions will impart glory and magnifcencc to
the king; but he cannot be discovered
among thousands, yea, there shall never be
found an elephant clothed at once with all
the excellences herein described Eyes
restless like those of crow, small wrin-
kled face and hollow forehead, black tongue,
thin neck. freckled skin, yellow nails, and
a short tail without q tuft, are signs of an
elephant deficient in good breeding. The
domestic elephant is, actually not meta
polished animal. He is rub
bed with soft stone lump of burnt clay,
or the coarse husk of a coeo-nut, oiled now
and then, and, as consequence, loses the
hairs from his skin while he acquires a
blatker and more lustrous color.


But we speak of the elephant at home,
with his light brown coat, covered by him.
self with mud and dust, as a protection
from the flies and heat Though living in
warm climates he avoids the exposed ground,
and prefers the mountain tops--if only they
yield him water enOugh-tO sultry valleys.
In his woods he avoids all glare of the sun,
and spends the dty under the thickest
shade. At night he roams abroad. delight
ed by the coolness and the solitude, for he
is. among beasts, one that most loves tran
guilty. In water he delights. AMI night
is his especial bathing time. His range of
sight does not extend far above the level of
his head, and he relics always less upon
his eye than upon his senses of smell and
of hearing The nerves o! the eye are
found to be in his brain comparatively small.
while those which supply the apparatus of
the ear and the Olfactory lobes are large
The elephants small range of vision makes
his caution more excessive, A hunter, un-
depSthe feet of a wounded elephant, was
saved by few tendrils of climbing plant
that caught the forehead of the animal
Surprised by the touch, he turned and fed.
The acuteness of the power of smell ena-
bles elephants. when in the forest, to as
semble at given point with great Iapidi-
ty. In passing from mountain to noun
tain. through thick woods hiding a river,
they viii take the direct line by which the
river may be crossed at the point where it
is most fordable. Engineers in CeylOn
this fact, and are guided by the
elephant tracks in planning ways for hu-
man traffic.


The voice Of the elephant has bern de-
scri5ed by hunters as having three cries A
1uiet study of him is his unlisturbed home
life shows that his variety of utterance i /
very great. A shrill blowing through the
trunk, in some treatises described as a cry
IF pleasure, is, in Ceylon at any rate, the