been a subject of much speculation, as to whether it be dependent on
their power of sight or of scent. It is not, however, more mysterious
than the unerring certainty and rapidity with which some of the minor
animals, and more especially insects, in warm climates congregate
around the offal on which they feed. Circumstanced as they are, they
must be guided towards their object mainly if not exclusively by the
sense of smell; but that which excites astonishment is the small
degree of odour which seems to suffice for the purpose; the subtlety
and rapidity with which it traverses and impregnates the air; and the
keen and quick perception with which it is taken up by the organs of
those creatures. The instance of the scavenger beetles has been already
alluded to; the promptitude with which they discern the existence of
matter suited to their purposes, and the speed with which they hurry
to it from all directions; often from distances as extraordinary,
proportionably, as those traversed by the eye of the vulture. In the
instance of the dying elephant referred to above, life was barely
extinct when the flies, of which not one was visible but a moment
before, arrived in clouds and blackened the body by their multitude;
scarcely an instant was allowed to elapse for the commencement of
decomposition; no odour of putrefaction could be discerned by us who
stood close by; yet some peculiar smell of mortality, simultaneously
with parting breath, must have summoned them to the feast. Ants exhibit
an instinct equally surprising. I have sometimes covered up a particle
of refined sugar with paper on the centre of a polished table; and
counted the number of minutes which would elapse before it was fastened
on by the small black ants of Ceylon, and a line formed to lower it
safely to the floor. Here was a substance which, to our apprehension at
least, is altogether inodorous, and yet the quick sense of smell must
have been the only conductor of the ants. It has been observed of those
fishes which travel overland on the evaporation of the ponds in which
they live, that they invariably march in the direction of the nearest
water, and even when captured, and placed on the floor of a room,
their efforts to escape are always made towards the same point. Is the
sense of smell sufficient to account for this display of instinct in
them? or is it aided by special organs in the case of the others? Dr.
MCGEE, formerly of the ROYAL NAVY, writing to me on the subject of the
instant appearance of flies in the vicinity of dead bodies, says: “In
warm climates they do not wait for death to invite them to the banquet.
In Jamaica I have again and again seen them settle on a patient, and
hardly to be driven away by the nurse, the patient himself saying,
‘Here are these flies coming to eat me ere I am dead.’ At times they
have enabled the doctor, when otherwise he would have been in doubt as
to his prognosis, to determine whether the strange apyretic interval
occasionally present in the last stage of yellow fever was the fatal
lull or the lull of recovery; and ‘What say the flies?’ has been the
settling question. Among many, many cases during a long period I have
seen but one recovery after the assembling of the flies. I consider
the foregoing as a confirmation of smell being the guide even to the
attendants, a cadaverous smell has been perceived to arise from the
body of a patient twenty-four hours before death.”
[134] This is precisely the action ascribed by ARISTOTLE to the
elephant, when levelling palm trees. _De Anim. Hist._ 1. ix. c. 2.
[135] ARMANDI, _Hist. Milit. des Eléphants_, liv. i. ch. i. p. 2. It
is an interesting fact, noticed by ARMANDI, that the elephants figured
on the coins of Alexander and the Seleucidæ invariably exhibit the
characteristics of the Indian type, whilst those on Roman medals can
at once be pronounced African, from the peculiarities of the convex
forehead and expansive ears.—_Ibid._ liv. i. cap. i. p. 3.
[Illustration]
ARMANDI has, with infinite industry, collected from original sources a
mass of curious information relative to the employment of elephants in
ancient warfare, which he has published under the title of _Histoire
Militaire des Eléphants depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu’à
l’introduction des armes à feu_. Paris, 1843.
[136] ÆLIAN, lib. ii. cap. ii.
[137] See SCHLEGEL’S Essay on the Elephant and the Sphynx, _Classical
Journal_, No. lx. Although the trained elephant nowhere appears upon
the monuments of the Egyptians, the animal was not unknown to them,
and ivory and elephants are figured on the walls of Thebes and Karnac
amongst the spoils of Thothmes III. and the tribute paid to Rameses
I. The Island of Elephantine, in the Nile, near Assouan (Syene) is
styled in hieroglyphical writing “The Land of the Elephant;” but as it
is a mere rock, it probably owes its designation to its form. See Sir
GARDNER WILKINSON’S _Ancient Egyptians_, vol. i. pl. iv.; vol. v. p.
176. Above the first cataract of the Nile are two small islands, each
bearing the name of Phylæ;—quære, is the derivation of this word at
all connected with the Arabic term _fil_? See _ante_, p. 4, note. The
elephant figured in the sculptures of Nineveh is universally as wild,
not domesticated.
[138] This is merely a reiteration of the statement of ÆLIAN, who
ascribes to the elephants of Taprobane a vast superiority in size,
strength, and intelligence, above those of continental India: Καὶ
ὁι δέ γε νησιῶται ἐλέφαντες τῶν ἠπειρωτῶν ἀλκιμωτεροί τε τὴν ῥώμην
καὶ μείζους ἰδεῖν εἰσὶ, καὶ θυμοσοφώτεροι δὲ πάντα πάντη κρίνοιντο
ἄν.—ÆLIAN, _De Nat. Anim._ lib. xvi. cap. xviii.
ÆLIAN also, in the same chapter, states the fact of the shipment of
elephants in large boats from Ceylon to the opposite continent of
India, for sale to the king of Kalinga; so that the export from Manaar,
described in a former passage, has been going on apparently without
interruption since the time of the Romans.
[139] The expression of TAVERNIER is to the effect, that as compared
with all others, the elephants of Ceylon are “plus courageux _à la
guerre_.” The rest of the passage is a curiosity:—
“Il faut remarquer ici une chose qu’on aura peut-être de la peine
à croire mais qui est toutefois très-véritable: c’est que lorsque
quelque roi ou quelque seigneur a quelqu’un de ces éléphants de Ceylan,
et qu’on en amène quelque autre des lieux où les marchands vont les
prendre, comme d’Achen, de Siam, d’Arakan, de Pégu, du royaume de
Boutan, d’Assam, des terres de Cochin et de la côte du Mélinde, dès
que les éléphants en voient un de Ceylan, par un instinct de nature,
ils lui font la révérence, portant le bout de leur trompe à la terre
et la relevant. Il est vrai que les éléphants que les grands seigneurs
entretiennent, quand on les amène devant eux, pour voir s’ils sont en
bon point, font trois fois une espèce de révérence avec leur trompe,
_ce que j’ai vu souvent_; mais ils sont stylés à cela, et leurs
maîtres le leur enseignent de bonne heure.”—_Les Six Voyages de_ J. B.
TAVERNIER, lib. iii. ch. 20.
[140] _Ramayana_, sec. vi.; CAREY and MARSHMAN, i. 105; FAUCHE, i. t.
p. 66.
[141] The only mention of the elephant in Sacred History is in the
account given in _Maccabees_ of the invasion of Egypt by Antiochus,
who entered it 170 B.C., “with chariots and elephants, and horsemen,
and a great navy.” (1 Macc. i. 17.) Frequent allusions to the use
of elephants in war occur in both books: and in chap. vi. 34, it is
stated that “to provoke the elephants to fight they show them the
blood of grapes and of mulberries.” The term showed, ἔδειξαν, might
be thought to imply that the animals were enraged by the sight of the
wine and its colour, but in the Third Book of Maccabees, in the Greek
Septuagint, various other passages show that wine, on such occasions,
was administered to the elephants to render them furious. (Macc. v. 2,
10, 45.) PHILE mentions the same fact, _De Elephante_, i. 145.
There is a very curious account of the mode in which the Arab
conquerors of Scinde, in the 9th and 10th centuries, equipped the
elephant for war; which being written with all the particularity of
an eye-witness, bears the impress of truth and accuracy. MASSOUDI,
who was born in Bagdad at the close of the 9th century, travelled in
India in the year A.D. 913, and visited the Gulf of Cambay, the coast
of Malabar, and the island of Ceylon:—from a larger account of his
journeys he compiled a summary under the title of “_Moroudj al-dzeheb_”
or the “_Golden Meadows_,” the MS. of which is now in the Bibliothèque
Nationale. M. REINAUD, in describing this manuscript, says, on its
authority, “The Prince of Mensura, whose dominions lay south of the
Indus, maintained eighty elephants trained for war, each of which bore
in his trunk a bent cymeter (carthel), with which he was taught to cut
and thrust at all confronting him. The trunk itself was effectually
protected by a coat of mail, and the rest of the body enveloped in
a covering composed jointly of iron and horn. Other elephants were
employed in drawing chariots, carrying baggage, and grinding forage,
and the performance of all bespoke the utmost intelligence and
docility.”—REINAUD, _Mémoire sur l’Inde, antérieurement au milieu du
XI^e siècle, d’après les écrivains arabes, persans et chinois_. Paris,
M.D.CCC.XLIX. p. 215. See SPRENGER’S English translation of Massoudi,
vol. i. p. 383.
[142] BRODERIP, _Zoological Recreations_, p. 226.
[143] The iron goad with which the keeper directs the movements of the
elephants, called a _hendoo_ in Ceylon and _hawkus_ in Bengal, appears
to have retained the present shape from the remotest antiquity. It is
figured in the medals of Caracalla in the identical form in which it is
in use at the present day in India.
[Illustration: Medal of Numidia.]
[Illustration: Modern Hendoo.]
The Greeks called it ἅρπη, and the Romans _cuspis_.
[144] JORDANUS DE SEVERAC, in his _Mirabilia Descripta_, written about
the year 1330, thus describes the mode then in use for taming captured
elephants in Cambodia:—“And so the wild elephant remaineth caught
between the two gates. Then cometh a man _clothed in black or red, with
his face covered_, who cruelly thrashes him from above, and crieth
out cruelly against him as against a ‘thief!’ and this goeth on for
five or six days; without his getting anything to eat or drink. Then
cometh another man with _his face bare and clad in another colour_, who
feigneth to smite the first man, and to drive and thrust him away. Then
he cometh to the elephant and talketh to him, and with a long spear he
scratcheth him, and he kisses him and gives him food. And this goes on
for ten or fifteen days, and so by degrees he ventureth down beside him
and bindeth him to another elephant. And then after about twenty days
he may be taken out to be taught and broken in.” (Chap. v.)
[145] This was the largest elephant that had been tamed in Ceylon; he
measured upwards of nine feet at the shoulders, and belonged to the
caste so highly prized for the temples. He was gentle after his first
capture, but his removal from the corral to the stables, though only
a distance of six miles, was a matter of the extremest difficulty:
his extraordinary strength rendering him more than a match for the
attendant decoys. He on one occasion escaped, but was recaptured in the
forest; and he afterwards became so docile as to perform a variety of
tricks. He was at length ordered to be removed to Colombo; but such was
his terror on approaching the fort, that on coaxing him to enter the
gate, he became paralysed in the extraordinary way elsewhere alluded
to, and died on the spot.
[146] The natives of Ceylon profess that the high-caste elephants, such
as are allotted to the temples, are of all others the most difficult to
tame, and M. BLES, the Dutch correspondent of BUFFON, mentions a caste
of elephants which he had heard of, as being peculiar to the Kandyan
kingdom, that were not higher than a heifer (génisse), covered with
hair, and insusceptible of being tamed. (BUFFON, _Supp._ vol. vi. p.
29.) Bishop HEBER, in the account of his journey from Bareilly towards
the Himalayas, describes the Raja Gourman Sing, “mounted on a little
female elephant, hardly bigger than a Durham ox, and almost as shaggy
as a poodle.” (_Journ._ ch. xvii.) It will be remembered that the
mammoth discovered in 1803 embedded in icy soil in Siberia, was covered
with a coat of long hair, with a sort of wool at the roots. Hence there
arose the question whether that northern region had been formerly
inhabited by a race of elephants, so fortified by nature against cold;
or whether the individual discovered had been borne thither by currents
from some more temperate latitudes. To the latter theory the presence
of hair seemed a fatal objection; but so far as my own observation
goes, I believe the elephants are more or less provided with hair.
In some it is more developed than in others, and it is particularly
observable in the young, which when captured are frequently covered
with a woolly fleece, especially about the head and shoulders. In the
older individuals in Ceylon, this is less apparent; and in captivity
the hair appears to be altogether removed by the custom of the mahouts
to rub their skin daily with oil and a rough lump of burned clay. See
a paper on the subject, _Asiat. Journ._ N. S. vol. xiv. p. 182, by Mr.
G. FAIRHOLME. Fossil remains of elephants of extremely small dimensions
have, it is said, been discovered in the island of Malta.
[147]
Διπλῆς δέ φασιν εὐπορῆσαι καρδίας·
Καὶ τῇ μὲν εἶναι θυμικὸν τὸ θηρίον
Εἰς ἀκρατῆ κίνησιν ἠρεθισμένον,
Τῇ δὲ προσηνὲς καὶ θρασύτητος ξένον.
Καὶ πῇ μὲν αὐτῶν ἀκροᾶσθαι τῶν λόγων
Οὓς ἄν τις Ἰνδὸς εὖ τιθασεύων λέγοι,
Πῇ δὲ πρὸς αὐτοὺς τοὺς νομεῖς ἐπιτρὲχειν
Εἰς τὰς παλαιὰς ἐκτραπὲν κακουργίας.
PHILE, _Expos. de Eleph._ l. 126, &c.
[148] Captain YULE, in his _Narrative of an Embassy to Ava in 1855_,
records an illustration of this tendency of the elephant to sudden
death; one newly captured, the process of taming which was exhibited to
the British Envoy, “made vigorous resistance to the placing of a collar
on its neck, and the people were proceeding to tighten it, when the
elephant, which had lain down as if quite exhausted, reared suddenly on
the hind quarters, and fell on its side—_dead!_” (P. 104.)
Mr. STRACHAN noticed the same liability of the elephants to sudden
death from very slight causes; “if they fall,” he says, “at any time,
though on plain ground, they either die immediately, or languish till
they die; their great weight occasioning them so much hurt by the
fall.” (_Phil. Trans._ A. D. 1701, vol. xxiii. p. 1052.)
[149] A correspondent informs me that on the Malabar coast of India,
the elephant, when employed in dragging stones, moves them by means of
a rope, which he either draws with his forehead, or manages by seizing
it in his teeth.
[150] “Here the trees were large and handsome, but not strong enough
to resist the inconceivable strength of the mighty monarch of these
forests; almost every tree had half its branches broken short by them,
and at every hundred yards I came upon entire trees, and these, _the
largest in the forest_, uprooted clean out of the ground, and _broken
short across their stems_.” (_A Hunter’s Life in South Africa._ By R.
GORDON CUMMING, vol.ii. p.305.) “Spreading out from one another, they
smash and destroy all the finest trees in the forest which happen to be
in their course.... I have rode through forests where the trees thus
broken lay so thick across one another, that it was almost impossible
to ride through the districts.” (_Ibid._ p.310.)
Mr. Gordon Cumming does not name the trees which he saw thus “uprooted”
and “broken across,” nor has he given any idea of their size and
weight; but Major DENHAM, who observed like traces of the elephant in
Africa, saw only small trees overthrown by them; and Mr. PRINGLE, who
had an opportunity of observing similar practices of the animals in the
neutral territory of the Eastern frontier of the Cape of Good Hope,
describes their ravages as being confined to the mimosas, “immense
numbers of which had been torn out of the ground, and placed in an
inverted position, in order to enable the animals to browse at their
ease on the soft and juicy roots, which form a favourite part of their
food. Many of the _larger mimosas had resisted all their efforts; and
indeed it is only after heavy rain, when the soil is soft and loose,
that they ever successfully attempt this operation_.” (PRINGLE’S
_Sketches of South Africa_.) Sir S. BAKER, whose observation confirms
my own, as to the limited dimensions of the trees overthrown by
elephants in Ceylon, says that in the vicinity of the White Nile, where
the principal food of the elephant is the mimosa, he saw trees uprooted
by them, which measured 30 feet high and 4 feet 6 inches in diameter.
But he is “convinced that no single elephant could have overturned
them; and the natives assured him that they mutually assist one
another, and that several engage together in the work of overthrowing
a large tree; the powerful tushes of some being applied as crowbars in
the roots while others pull at the branches their trunks.” (_The Albert
Nyanz_ vol. i. p. 276.)
[151] _Menageries_, _etc._ “The Elephant,” vol. ii. p. 23.
[152] _Menageries_, _etc._ ch. vi. p. 138.
[153] _Menageries_, _etc._ “The Elephant,” vol. i. p. 19.
[154] The principal sound by which the mahouts in Ceylon direct the
motions of the elephants is a repetition, with various modulations,
of the words _ur-re! ur-re!_ This is one of those interjections in
which the sound is so expressive of the sense that persons in charge
of animals of almost every description throughout the world appear to
have adopted it with a concurrence that is very curious. The drivers
of camels in Turkey, Palestine, and Egypt encourage them to speed
by shouting _ar-ré! ar-ré!_ The Arabs in Algeria cry _eirich!_ to
their mules. The Moors seem to have carried the custom with them into
Spain, where mules are still driven with cries of _arré_ (whence the
muleteers derive their Spanish appellation of “arrieros”). In France
the sportsman excites the hound by shouts of _hare! hare!_ and the
waggoner there turns his horses by his voice, and the use of the word
_hurhaut!_ In the North, “_Hurs_ was a word used by the old Germans in
urging their horses to speed:” and Sir FRANCIS HEAD, in his _Bubbles
from the Brunnens_, describes the Schwin-General shouting “_ariff_”
to his pigs...“_ariff!_ vociferated the old man, striding after one
of his rebellious subjects; _ariff!_ re-echoed his boy striding after
another.” (P.94.)
To the present day, the herdsmen in Ireland, and parts of Scotland,
drive their pigs with shouts of _hurrish!_ a sound closely resembling
that used by the mahouts in Ceylon.
[155] _On the Difference between the Human Membrana tympani and that of
the Elephant._ By Sir EVERARD HOME, Bart., _Philos. Trans._ 1823. Paper
by Prof. HARRISON, _Proc. Royal Irish Academy_, vol. iii. p. 386.
[156] I have already noticed the striking effect produced on the
captive elephants in the corral, by the harmonious notes of an ivory
flute; and on looking to the graphic description which is given by
ÆLIAN of the exploits which he witnessed as performed by the elephants
exhibited at Rome, it is remarkable how very large a share of their
training appears to have been ascribed to the employment of music.
PHILE, in the account which he has given of the elephant’s fondness
for music, would almost seem to have versified the prose narrative of
ÆLIAN, as he describes its excitement at the more animated portions,
its step being regulated to the time and movements of the harmony: the
whole “_surprising in a creature whose limbs are without joints!_”
Καινόν τι ποιῶν ἐξ ἀνάρθρων ὀργάνων.
PHILE, _Expos. de Eleph._ l. 216.
For an account of the training and performances of the elephants at
Rome, as narrated by ÆLIAN, see the appendix to this chapter.
[157] _The Angler in the Lake District_, p. 23. A similar story is told
in the _Memoir of Bishop Wilson_, of an elephant which when suffering
with ophthalmia had experienced the relief derived from a solution of
nitrate of silver, and voluntarily offered its eye for a re-application
of the remedy, on a second visit of the surgeon.
[158] A shocking account of the death of this poor animal is given in
HONE’S _Every-Day Book_, March 1830, p. 337.
[159] ÆLIAN, lib. xiii. c. 7.
[160] The elephant which was dissected by Dr. HARRISON of Dublin, in
1847, died of a febrile attack, after four or five days’ illness,
which, as Dr. H. tells me in a private letter, was “very like
scarlatina, at that time a prevailing disease: its skin in some places
became almost scarlet.”
[161] See a paper, entitled “_Recollections of Ceylon_,” in _Fraser’s
Magazine_ for December 1860.
[162] _Annales du Muséum_, F. viii. 1805. p. 94, and _Ossemens
Fossiles_, quoted by OWEN, in the article on “Teeth,” in TODD’S
_Cyclop. of Anatomy_, _etc._ vol. iv. p. 929.
[163] An ordinary-sized elephant engrosses the undivided attention
of _three_ men. One, as his mahout or superintendent, and two as
leaf-cutters, who bring him branches and grass for his daily supplies.
An animal of larger growth would probably require a third leaf-cutter.
The daily consumption is two cwt. of green food with about half a
bushel of grain. When in the vicinity of towns and villages, the
attendants have no difficulty in procuring an abundant supply of
the branches of the trees to which elephants are partial; and in
journeys through the forests and unopened country, the leaf-cutters
are sufficiently expert in the knowledge of those particular plants
with which the elephant is satisfied. Those that would be likely
to disagree with him he unerringly rejects. His favourites are the
palms, especially the cluster of rich, unopened leaves, known as the
“cabbage,” of the coco-nut and areca; and he delights to tear open
the young trunks of the palmyra and jaggery (_Caryota urens_) in
search of the farinaceous matter contained in the spongy pith. Next to
these come the varieties of fig-trees, particularly the sacred _Bo_
(_F. religiosa_) which is found near every temple, and the _na gaha_
(_Messua ferrea_), with thick dark leaves and a scarlet flower. The
leaves of the jak-tree and bread-fruit (_Artocarpus integrifolia_,
and _A. incisa_), the wood apple (_Ægle Marmelos_), Palu (_Mimusops
Indica_), and a number of others well known to their attendants, are
all consumed in turn. The stems of the plaintain, the stalks of the
sugar-cane, and the feathery tops of the bamboos, are irresistible
luxuries. Pine-apples, water-melons, and fruits of every description,
are voraciously devoured, and a coconut when found is first rolled
under foot to detach it from the husk and fibre, and then raised in his
trunk and crushed almost without an effort, by his ponderous jaws.
The grasses are not found in sufficient quantity to be an item of daily
fodder; the Mauritius or the Guinea grass is seized with avidity; lemon
grass is rejected from its overpowering perfume, but rice in the straw,
and every description of grain, whether growing or dry; gram (_Cicer
arietinum_), Indian corn, and millet, are his natural food. Of such of
these as can be found, it is the duty of the leaf-cutters, when in the
jungle and on march, to provide a daily supply.
[164] ARISTOTELES _de Anim._ 1. viii. c. 9.
[165] _Ménag. de Mus. Nat._ p. 107.
[166] _Ostéographie_, “Eléph.” p. 74.
[167] FLEURENS, _De la Longévité Humaine_, pp. 82, 89.
[168] This remark regarding the elephant of Ceylon does not appear to
extend to that of Africa, as I observe that BEAVER, in his _African
Memoranda_, says that “the skeletons of old ones that have died in the
woods are frequently found.” (_African Memoranda relative to an attempt
to establish British Settlements at the Island of Bulama._ Lond. 1815,
p. 353.)
[169] A corral was organised near Putlam in 1846, by Mr. Morris, the
chief officer of the district. It was constructed across one of the
paths to which the elephants resort in their frequent marches, and
during the course of the proceedings two of the captured elephants
died. Their carcases were left of course within the enclosure, which
was abandoned as soon as the capture was complete. The wild elephants
resumed their path through it, and a few days afterwards the headman
reported to Mr. Morris that the bodies had been removed and carried
outside the corral to a spot to which nothing but the elephants could
have borne them.
[170] _Expositio de Eleph._ l. 243.
[171] The selection by animals of a _place to die_, is not confined to
the elephant. DARWIN says, that in South America “the guanacos (llamas)
appear to have favourite spots for lying down to die; on the banks
of the Santa Cruz river, in certain circumscribed spaces which were
generally bushy and all near the water, the ground was actually white
with their bones: on one such spot I counted between ten and twenty
heads.”—_Nat. Voy._ ch. viii. The same has been remarked in the Rio
Gallegos; and at St. Jago in the Cape de Verde Islands, DARWIN saw a
retired corner similarly covered with the bones of the goat, as if it
were “the burial-ground of all the goats in the island.”
[172] _Arabian Nights’ Entertainment_, LANE’S edition, vol. iii. p. 77.
[173] See a disquisition on the origin of the story of Sinbad, by
M. REINAUD, in the introduction prefixed to his translation of the
_Arabian Geography of Aboulfeda_, vol. i. p. lxxvi.
INDEX.
ADAM’S PEAK, ascent of by elephants, _page_ 41
——, encounter with wild elephants near, 77
Adventures with elephants, 71
ÆLIAN, account of the export of elephants from Ceylon, 5 _n._
—— his fallacy as to the elephant shedding his tusks, 7 _n._
—— alleged antipathy of the elephant and rhinoceros, 9, 15
—— his account of training, 151
—— error as to the elephant being without joints, 34, 35 _n._
—— says elephants were trained to kill by their knees, 16 _n._
—— on the supposed superiority of the Ceylon to the Indian elephant,
152 _n._
—— elephant, love of music, 168 _n._
—— elephants performing at Rome, 168 _n._, 183
Aetagalla Rock, legend of, 107
Affection for their young, 47
African elephant teeth different from Indian, vii.
—— ribs and vertebræ, viii. 20
—— both sexes have tusks, 6
—— ivory preferred to Ceylon in Europe, 6 _n._
—— conjecture respecting tusks, 7
—— great size of tusks; 300 lbs. and upwards, 7, 8
African elephant is not vulnerable in the forehead, as the Ceylon
elephant is, _page_ 81
Age of elephants, 123, 177
—— estimated duration of life in, 177
Airavanta, Sanscrit, origin of the word elephant, 4 _n._
Alce. _See_ Elk, 33
_Alexandri Epistola ad Aristolelem_, 11
Alexander the Great, his Indian expedition, 150
—— coins of, 151 _n._
_Alisaunder_, English romance of, 12 _n._
Allia. _See_ Hora allia, 82. _See_ Rogue
Alligator River, elephant hunt at, 106
Anarajapoora, instinct exhibited by elephants at, 65
Anatomy of the elephant imperfectly known, 56
—— account of by Molyneux, A.D. 1696, 56 _n._
ANSTED, Prof., on the height of elephants, 31 _n._
Antipater brought the first Indian elephant to Greece, 150
Antipathy of elephants to other animals, 12, 15
—— its improbability, 15
Ants, superior to the elephant in sagacity, 68
—— their marvellous power of discovering sugar, 139 _n._
_Arabian Nights_, story of the burial place of dead elephants, 182
ἅρπη. _See_ Hendoo, 156 _n._
ARISTOTLE, on the trunk of the elephant, 28 _n._
—— on the fallacy of the elephant having no joints, 33
—— on the double stomach of the elephant, 57 _n._
—— on its mode of levelling trees, 140 _n._
ARMANDI, error as to the height of Ceylon elephant, 31 _n._
—— on the double stomach of, 67 _n._
—— on elephants in war, 151
_Ar-ré_, sound to guide elephants, 167 _n._
—— its variations in various countries, ib.
_Arundel MSS._, errors as to the elephant, 36
Assam, elephant of, x.
Avisavelle, elephant corral at, 43
BADULLA, fight between two elephants at, 16
—— adventures with elephants near, 71, 74
BAKER, Sir SAMUEL, on the weight of African ivory, 8 _n._
—— his stories of elephant shooting, 77 _n._
—— on the difference between the Ceylon and African species, 20 _n._
—— on power to uproot trees, 162 _n._
—— on the size of the elephant’s foot in Africa, 98 _n._
BARBEZIEUX, RICHARD DE, error as to joints of elephant, 37
Bari, size of African ivory at, 8 _n._
Bathing elephants, story of, 51, 55 _n._
BENARY, his theory of the derivation of the word elephant, 4 _n._
Bengal, elephants of, viii.
—— method of poisoning them, 6
—— mode of capturing them, 104
Bentinck, Baron, communication from, viii. ix.
BERNIER, as to the supposed superiority of the Ceylon elephant to that
of India, 152
“_Bestiaries_” of the Middle Ages, in error as to the joints
of the elephant,36
Burmah, method of capturing elephants in, 97
Bison, its instinct as to harvest time, 64
BLAIR, Dr., on the anatomy of the elephant, 56 _n._
BLES, M., affection of elephants for their young, 47. _See_ Buffon
—— on training elephants, 159 _n._
Bo-trees, sacred; eaten by elephants, 111.
BOCHART, derivation of the word _elephant_, 4 _n._
BONAPARTE, Prince LUCIEN, his account of the Sumatran elephant, viii.
Breeding in captivity, fallacy as to, 176
BRODERIP, on the mode of training, 155
—— on the size of tusks in elephants, 8 _n._
—— on the stomach of, 56
BROOKE, Sir VICTOR, Bart., great elephant shot by, 9 _n._
—— immense tusk, 16
BROWNE, Sir THOMAS, _Vulgar Errors_, exposes the delusion as to there
being no joints in the elephant, 32, 38
BUCHANAN, on rogue elephants, 49 _n._
Buffalo, double stomach of, 63
BUFFON. _See_ BLES
—— on the double stomach of the elephant, 57 _n._
—— on training, 159 _n._
Burial place of the elephants, as told in the story of _Sinbad
of the Sea_, 181
Burying their dead, alleged habit of elephants, 180
CÆSAR, his story of the _alce_, 33
Cambodia, method of training elephants in, 157
Camel, alleged antipathy of the elephant to, 13
—— cellular stomach, 60
CAMPER, on the double stomach of the elephant, 58
Captivity, conduct of elephants when first taken, 150
Carthaginians employed elephants in war, 151
Caution of elephants as to pit-falls alleged, but doubtful, 67
Ceylon, geological formation of the island, vii.
—— export of elephants to India, viii. 5
—— profuse number of elephants in, 5
—— cause of declining numbers, 6
Charlemagne, elephant sent to by Haroun Alraschid, 35
Chena cultivation, 64
China, Ceylon ivory preferred for carving, 62
Chittagong, elephant of, x.
Chuny, the tame elephant killed at Exeter Change, its cruel death, 169
Climbing, ability of the elephant in, 41
Cochin China, elephant of, xi.
COCKAYNE. See _Alexandri Epistola, etc._, 11
Coco-nut, how eaten by an elephant, 64
COLERIDGE, on the sagacity of the elephant, 68
Colombo frequented by elephants in 1705 A. D., 5
COMBE, on the brain of the elephant, 86
Cooroowe. _See_ Noosers, 122, 155
Coroners’ inquests show few deaths by elephants, 10
Corral or Kraal, operations of, 95
—— in Bengal, how constructed. _See_ Keddah, 104
—— dimensions, 113
—— form of, 112
—— its strength, 114
—— the drive of the elephants, 115
—— the rush and return, 116
—— singular night scene, 117
—— the capture made, 118
—— noosed and secured, 121
—— distress of the captives, and their struggles, 125, 135
—— terror of the elephants for white rods, 128
—— noticed by Pliny, 128, _n._
—— conduct of the young ones, 137
—— extraordinary scene, 140
—— interesting demeanour of the captives, 140
—— a second herd driven in and taken, 143
—— leading out the captives, 147
CORSE, his account of the Indian elephant, 47
COSMAS INDICOPLEUSTES, his account of the export of elephants
from Ceylon, 5 _n._
Courage in open ground, 86, 87
Cripps, Mr., description of a strange sound made by elephants, 29
—— story of an elephant feigning death, 70
—— on the taming and training of elephants, 158
—— on their attachment to attendants, 166
Cripps, Mr., on elephants breeding in captivity, 177
Cruelties in elephant shooting, 77 _n._
CTESIAS, fallacy that the elephant has no joints, 33
CUMMING, Mr. GORDON, his cruel experiments on the vital endurance
of the elephant, 81 _n._
—— questionable stories of trees uprooted by elephants, 162 _n._
Curiosity, spirit of, strong in the elephant, 67
—— story of Colonel Hardy, 67
Cuspis. _See_ Hendoo, 156 _n._
Cuttack, elephant of, x.
—— method of poisoning elephants in, 6
CUVIER, on the comparative sagacity of the elephant, 68
—— on the tusks of elephants, 173
—— on duration of life in, 177
_DAH! DAH!_ word hateful to wild elephant, 100
_Dakra_, a poison for elephants in Bengal, 6 _n._
DARWIN, on the burial place of llamas and goats, 101 _n._
DAVY, Dr., on endurance of pain in the elephant, 168
—— on the spirit of curiosity in the elephant, 67
Dawson, Capt., an elephant shot by, dies standing, 39
DE BLAINVILLE, on the duration of life in the elephant, 177
DE BRY, story of a horse killed by a trained elephant, 13
Dead elephant, body rarely found, 179
Deafness occasional in elephants, 30
Death feigned by an elephant, 70
Decoy elephants, their conduct, 119, 123, 134
_Défenses_. _See_ Tusks, 9
Dekkan, elephant of the, xi.
De Lima, General, immense tusks got by, in Africa, 8 _n._
DENHAM, Major, on the height of an African elephant, 31
——, Major, power of elephant to overthrow trees, 162 _n._
Descending acclivities, mode of, 44
Dentine, 173. _See_ Ivory
DICUIL, description of the elephant of Charlemagne, 35
Dinka, size of African ivory at, 8 _n._, 12
DIODORUS SICULUS, on the sagacity of the Indian elephant, 150
Dogs, elephants impatient of, 14
—— Major Skinner’s dog, kept off the elephants by its bark, 15
—— superior in sagacity to the elephant, 69
DONNE, His error as to the joints of the elephant, 38
Dublin, elephant burnt to death, 26 _n._
“Duipa,” an Indian name of the elephant, its signification, 63 _n._
Dust, habit of throwing it over themselves, 133
Dutch possessions in India, vii. _See_ Temminck
—— elephant hunts conducted by, 95
EAR, formation of, 167
—— love of music, 168 _n._
—— Sir EVERARD HOME, on hearing in the elephant, 167
Ebony, logs piled by elephants, 164
“Eleph,” Hebrew, conjectured to be the root of elepha, 4 _n._
“_Elephant_,” derivation of the word, 4 _n._
—— conjectures of Pictet, Bochart, Pott, and Benary, 4 _n._
—— great numbers in Ceylon, 5
—— will ere long be extinct in India, 6 _n._
—— alleged enmity to man, and other animals, 10
—— signs of perfection in. See _Hastisilpe_, 21
—— natural colour of the skin, 22
—— loves shade, 25
—— scene, by night while bathing, 52
—— stomach of the elephant double, 56
—— the Ceylon elephant supposed to exceed that of India in sagacity,
152
Elephant, the first brought to Greece by Antipater, 150
Elephant shooting. _See_ Shooting ἐλέφας signified not the elephant,
but its _ivory_, 4 _n._
—— Benary’s derivation of the word, 66 _n._
Elephas Sumatranus. _See_ Sumatra, viii.
—— supposed to differ from the elephant of India, vii.
—— this theory doubted by Dr. Falconer, ix.
Elk, error of Cæsar in saying that the “alce” has no joints, 33
_Englishman, Voyage of a certain_, story of an elephant killing a
horse, 13 _n._
EVELYN, JOHN, refutes the fallacy that the elephant has no joints, 33
Eye of the elephant small, 26, ib. _n._
—— its accuracy when engaged in working, 26
FAIRHOLME on the elephant, 159 _n._
FALCONER, Dr., doubts the alleged difference between the elephants
of Sumatra and India, ix.
—— on the height of elephants, 31 _n._
Fanning themselves, habit of, 84
—— extreme grace of the movement, 136
—— in the corral, 135
Feet, habit of swinging, 84
—— not, as supposed, a substitute for exercise, 85
Females in a herd, numerous, 47
Fences, elephant’s dread of, 65
_Fils-ben_, Danish for ivory, 4 _n._
Flesh of the elephant coarse, 88
FLEURENS, on the duration of life in the elephant, 177
Flies, their marvellous faculty of discerning carrion, 139 _n._
—— account of their hurrying to death-beds, 139 _n._
Food of the elephant when wild, 63
—— when tamed and trained, 175
Foot, a frequent seat of disease, 170
—— its extreme sensitiveness, 133
—— of the elephant makes good soup, 89
—— twice its circumference equal to the height of the animal, 98 _n._
FORBES, anecdote from his _Oriental Memoirs_, 107 _n._
Forehead of the elephant, wound in, fatal, 80
Fossil elephant, 159 _n._
Fretz, Gerard, frightful wound, 90
GADJAH. _See_ Sumatran elephant, viii.
Gallwey, Capt. P. Payne, number of elephants shot by him, 77 _n._
Geological formation of Ceylon, vii.
“_Goondah._” _See_ Rogue, 48
Gooneratné Modliar, his derivation for the word elephant, 5 _n._
GUILLIM, heraldry of the elephant, 38 _n._
HAIRY elephants, 159 _n._
Hardy, Colonel, story of, 69
Haroun, Alraschid, sends an elephant to Charlemagne, 35
HARRISON, Dr., on the anatomy of the elephant, 26 _n._, 57 _n._, 60, 61
—— on the structure of the head, 79
—— on the ear of the elephant, 167
_Hastisilpe_, a Singhalese work on elephants, 17 _n._, 21
Hawkus. _See_ Hendoo, 155
Head, wound in, fatal, 79
—— section of, 80
—— this fact noticed by Pliny, 79 _n._
Hearing. _See_ Ear
Heber, Bishop, describes a diminutive species of elephant, 159 _n._
Hedges, dreaded by elephants, 67
Height, exaggerated estimates of, in elephants, 30
Hendoo, used by the mahout, 155
Herd, the term described as applied to the elephant, 45
—— similarity of features in, 45
—— submissive to one leader, 50
—— their conventional association and attachment, 45
HERODOTUS, account of the antipathy of the elephant to the camel, 13
—— veneration for white horses and white oxen, 23
Himalayas, elephant paths on, 43
Hippopotamus, solitary individuals of, 49
HODGSON, Mr. B. H., his explorations in Nepal, xi.
Hog, double stomach of, 58
HOLLAND, DR., on the physiology of tusks, 17 _n._
HOME, Sir EVERARD, on the double stomach of the elephant, 58
—— on the ear of the elephant, 166, 167
HOME, RANDAL, his heraldry of the elephant, 38
HOOKER, Dr., elephants in the Himalayas, 43
_Hora._ _See_ Rogue, 47, 72
HORACE, mentions a white elephant at Rome, 24
Horse, alleged antipathy of the elephant to, 12
—— instances in disproof of this, 13
—— killed by a trained elephant, 13
—— anecdote of the meeting of a horse and an elephant, 19
—— structure of the shoulder joint, 41
IDLENESS, love of, in tame elephants, 165
Indian elephant supposed to differ from that of Sumatra, viii.
—— comparative anatomy of, vii.
—— varieties of the same species in, x.
—— elephant is dying out in India, 6 _n._
Indicopleustes (_see_ Cosmas), export of elephants, 5
Ivory, annual importations of, 6 _n._
—— proportion from Ceylon, 6 _n._
—— of Ceylon preferred in China, 6 _n._
—— African preferred in Europe, 6 _n._
—— weight of, in various countries, 8 _n._
—— immense African tusks at Goa, 8 _n._
—— how formed. _See_ Dentine, 173
JAFFNA, instinct shown by elephants at, 64
JARDINE, SIR WILLIAM, fallacy as to elephants shedding tusks, 7 _n._
Java, no elephants in the island, viii.
Joints, ancient error as to the elephant having none, 32
—— explanation of its origin, 38, 39
KANDY, the King of, held the killing of an elephant a criminal offence,
5
—— his hunts for capturing elephants, 96
Keddah. _See_ Corral, 104
Kimbul-oya. _See_ Alligator River, 106
Knox, his account of executions by trained elephants, 17
—— on the attachment of the herd to the young, 47
—— his accounts of elephant hunts in Kandy 77 _n._
Kombook tree; lime extracted from the bark, 110
Korahl. _See_ Corral.
Korles, the Seven, elephant hunts in, 4
Kornegalle, beauty of the place, 107
—— its temple the resort of Buddhists, 108
—— sacred footstep on the rock, 108
Kraal. _See_ Corral
—— derivation of the word, 105
Kurahl. _See_ Corral
Kurminia-galla, 107 _n._
Kurunoi-galla. _See_ Kornegalle
LABOUR of tame elephants too costly, 164, 174.
_See_ Tame Elephants
Lampongs. _See_ Sumatra, viii.
Leap, the elephant unable to, 40
—— anecdote, doubtful, of an elephant leaping, 41
LE BRUN, his account of the elephants in Ceylon, 5 _n._
Leyden, elephants in Museum, x.
Life, duration of in the elephant, 177, 178
Lightning, dreaded by elephants, 68
Lindsay, Mr., adventure with elephants, 75
LIVINGSTONE, Dr., on the solitary hippopotamus, 49
Llama, double stomach of, 60 _n._
Louis XIV., elephant belonging to, 57
Loxodon. _See_ Elephas Sumatranus, viii.
_Luca bos_, Roman term for the elephants of Pyrrhus, 4 _n._
_MACCABEES_, story of Jews killed by elephants, 16 _n._, 154 _n._
Machlis, an unknown animal, described by Pliny, 33
M‘GEE, Dr., his account of flies hurrying towards persons dying,
139 _n._
_Mahawanse_, mention of a white elephant in, 23
Mahout, elephant driver, the power of discrimination in India, x.
—— conduct of the mahouts in a corral, 129
—— mahouts said to die young, 166
Males, proportion of in a herd, small, 47
Malta, small fossil elephant found at, 159 _n._
Man, elephant has no natural antipathy to, 10
—— few deaths occasioned by them, 10
Manaar, singular scene on shipping elephants for India, 102
—— described in A.D. 1701, 102
_Marfil_, Spanish name for ivory, 4 _n._
—— _See Mafirm_, Portuguese, ib.
Marfil, Palma de, the vegetable ivory palm, 4 _n._
_Marfim_, Portuguese for ivory, 4 _n._
MASSOUDI, on the use of the elephant in war, 159 _n._
MATTHEW PARIS, his error as to the joints of the elephant, 36
Matura, elephants shipped from for India, 103
Mercer, Mr. Græme, story of a fight between two elephants, 16
Metatarsus, shortness of, enables the elephant to climb, 43
MOLYNEUX, his anatomy of the elephant, 56
Moormen of Ceylon, 97.
_See_ Panickeas.
MORRIS, Mr., conducts the corral in 1847, 109
MOULIN, A., his letter to Sir William Petty, 56 _n._
“_Mudda._” _See_ “Must,” 11
Muddy water not objected to by elephants, 55
Music, elephants’ love of, 168
“Must,” term explained, 11
NOUAER, size of African ivory at, 8 _n._
NATIVES of Ceylon, their narratives of accidents and adventures with
elephants, 71
Negombo, adventures with elephants at, 75
Nepal-root, a poison for elephants, 6
Nepal, mode of capturing elephants in, 97
Nile, White, enormous tusks got near, 8 _n._
_See_ Baker, Sir Samuel
Noises produced by elephants, 27
Noosers. _See_ Cooroowe, 122
—— their extraordinary courage, 136
Noosing elephants, as practised by the Panickeas, 99
Noosing in a corral, operation described, 122, 124
Numidia, Medal of, 156 _n._
OLFACTORY lobes, 26 _n._
Optic nerve in the elephant, 26 _n._
Osteology of the elephant. _See_ Teeth, viii. x.
OWEN, Prof., on the anatomy of the elephant, 56 _n._, 59, 60, 62
—— on the formation of ivory, 173
PAIN, patient endurance of, 168
PALLEGOIX, on the white elephant, 23 _n._
—— on sounds produced by elephants, 30 _n._
Palma de marfil, the vegetable ivory palm, 4 _n._
Panickeas, their marvellous skill as trackers, 97
—— their singular courage, 79
—— their method of capturing wild elephants, 99
—— mode of taming after capture, 101
—— their method of conducting the captives to the coast, 101
PARIS. _See_ MATTHEW PARIS.
Peccary, double stomach of, 58
PETHERICK, his account of large ivory in Soudan, 8 _n._
PHILE, his error as to the joints of the elephant, 35
—— difficulty of the elephant in rising, 30
—— elephant does not object to muddy water, 55 _n._
—— thinks the elephant hates the pig, 117 _n._
—— on elephants as executioners, 154 _n._
—— elephant’s love of music, 168 _n._
PHILLIPE, on the supposed superiority of the Ceylon to the Indian
elephant, 152
_Physiologus._ _See_ THEROALDUS, 36
PICTET, Prof., his essay on the derivation of the word _elephant_,
4 _n._
Pigs, antipathy of the elephant to. _See_ Swine, 14
—— spoil the capture at a corral, 116
Pingo, 71 _n._
Pit-falls, elephants surprised in, 67.
—— objections to, 96
PLINY, his fallacy as to the elephant shedding his tusks, 7 _n._
—— as to the antipathy of the elephant to other animals, 15
—— error as to the joints of the elephant, 32
—— the _machlis_, 33
—— terror of the elephant for white rods, 128
—— mode of taming it, 151
—— belief that the elephant has two hearts, 160
Poison for destroying elephants in Bengal, 6
POLYHISTOR. _See_ SOLINUS, 35
Ponnekella. _See_ Mahout, 122
Portuguese, elephant hunts conducted by, 95
—— origin of the word corral, 105
POTT, conjecture as to the derivation of the word “elephant,” 4 _n._
PRINGLE, on power of elephant to uproot trees, 162 _n._
Provençal song-writers, errors as to the elephant, 37
_Pseudodoxia Epidemica._ _See_ Sir THOMAS BROWNE.
Ptolemy Philopater, employs elephant to kill Jewish martyrs, 16 _n._
Punishments for tame elephants, 165
Puswael, a gigantic bean, 110
PYRARD, on the supposed superiority of the elephant of Ceylon to that
of India, 152
Pyrrhus, his elephants, 4 _n._, 150
RAIN, coming of foreseen by the elephant, 69
Raja-Kariya, 110.
_See_ Ripon.
Ramgur, method of poisoning elephants in, 6
Ranghani, the nooser, 123
—— his prowess and success, 127
Raté-mahat-meyas, encourage the taking of elephants in corrals, 111
REINAUD, on the use of the elephant in war, 154 _n._
Repose, peaceful, of the elephant, 84
Retirement, love of, 85
Rhinoceros, alleged antipathy between and the elephant, 9
Ripon, Earl of, abolishes rajakariya, 110
Rise, difficulty of the elephant to, 38, 39
Rogers, Major, story of his horse and the elephants, 13 _n._
—— elephant shot by him falls on its knees, 39
—— number killed by him, 77 _n._
Rogue elephant, their origin and habits, 46
—— their vice and depredations, 49, 50, 82 _n._
—— captured in a corral, 138
—— his death, 138
Rome, performance of elephants, 168 _n._, 183
Ronkedor. _See_ Rogue, 47 _n._
Ronquedue. _See_ Rogue, ib.
SAGACITY of the elephant, its superiority questioned, 68
—— Indian elephant said to excel the African in, 150
—— compared with that of the horse and dog, 161
Saragossa, elephant fight, exhibited, 10 _n._
SCHLEGEL, Prof., on the elephant of Sumatra, viii.
—— doubts its distinctness from the elephant of Ceylon, viii.-xi.
—— on the supposed superiority of the Ceylon to the Indian elephant,
152 _n._
Serpents, in Ceylon, more accidents from than from elephants, 10
SEVERAC, JORDANUS DE, on the mode of training elephants in Cambodia,
157 _n._
SHAKSPEARE, error as to the joints of the elephant, 37
—— on capturing elephants in pitfalls, 96 _n._
Shaw, fallacy as to the elephant shedding the tusks, 7 _n._
Shilook, size of African ivory at, 83
Shooting elephants, 77
—— cruelties of, 77 _n._
—— fatal spot in head, 79, and ear, ib.
Siam, elephant of, xi.
—— sounds produced by, 30 _n._
Sight, power of, 26
—— accuracy of eye when working, 162
Silhet, elephant of, x.
_Sinbad of the Sea_, story of the burial place of dead elephants, 181
Siribeddi, the female decoy, her ability, 123
—— her conduct, 145
SKINNER, MAJOR, story of his dog, 15
—— his description of a strange sound made by elephants, 29
—— finds elephant traces on Adam’s Peak, 41
—— number of elephants shot by him, 78
—— scene described by,—elephants at night, 51
—— story of the courage of an elephant hunter, 99 _n._
SLEAMAN, General, account of wolves suckling children, 47 _n._
Sloane, Sir Hans, on the anatomy of the elephant, 56 _n._
Smell, power of, 27, 98
SOLINUS, his error as to the joints of the elephant, 35
Sounds uttered by the elephant, 27
Soup, made from the elephant’s foot, 89
Speed of an elephant, 32
Sport. _See_ Shooting
Stomach of the elephant, double, 56
Stones, how raised by elephants, 162
STRACHAN, Mr., description of shipping elephants at Manaar, 103 _n._
—— on their liability to sudden death, 160 _n._
Structure of the elephant, 4
STUCKLEY, Dr. WILLIAM, on the anatomy of the elephant, 56 _n._
Sudden death, liability of elephants to, 159, 160 _n._
“Sun and moon,” emblems of duration, 187
Sumatra, elephant of, viii.
—— called _gadjah_, viii.
—— description by Temminck, vii. _n._
—— opinion of Prof. Schlegel on its distinctness from the elephant
of India, viii.
—— ribs and vertebræ, vii.
—— teeth of, viii.
—— this opinion controverted by Dr. Falconer, ix.
Surgical operations on elephants, 168
Swimming, action of the elephant in, 55
Swine, alleged antipathy of elephant to, 11, 14
TAME elephants, their conduct in the corral, 134.
_See_ Decoys
—— value of their labour 162, 174
—— levelling trees, 163
—— piling timber, 164
—— laziness, 165
—— punishments, 165
—— attachment to attendants, 166
—— medical treatment, 168, 170
—— obedience to orders, 169
—— causes of death in captivity, 171
—— weight of draught, 174
—— cost of feeding a tame elephant, 175
—— favourite food, 175
TAVERNIER, on the supposed superiority of the elephant of Ceylon,
153 _n._
Teeth of the Sumatran elephant, viii.
TEMMINCK’S _Dutch Possessions in India_, viii.
—— account of Sumatran elephant, viii.
THEROALDUS, _Physiologus_, error in, as to the joints of the elephant,
36
THEVENOT, on the supposed superiority of the Ceylon elephant to that
of India, 152
THOMSON, error in his _Seasons_, as to the joints of the elephant, 38
Timber, how dragged by elephants, 161 _n._, 162
—— wonderful skill in piling of, 164
Tipperah, elephant of, x.
Tissaweva. _See_ Anarajapoora, 65
Tooth-ache, 172
Training elephants, 150, &c.
—— first employments, 161
—— males more unmanageable than females, 158
—— process of, 150
—— varieties of disposition, 159
Trees, manner in which elephants level them, 146
—— stories of overthrowing exaggerated, 162
_Trompe._ _See_ Trunk
Trumpeting, peculiar sound of, 144
Trunk, so called from “trump,” 28
—— Aristotle compares the sound to a trumpet, ib.
—— strange drawings of, in the fifteenth century, 28 _n._
Tushes, their use to the elephant, 7
—— they, and not the tusks, shed, 7 _n._
Tuskers, influence of in the herd, 50
—— their efficiency in a corral, 136
Tusks, rare in the Ceylon elephant, 6
—— in Africa both male and female have them, 6
—— average weight of those imported, 60 cwt., 6 _n._
—— in Ceylon are light, owing to the animals being shot young,
6 _n._, 8
—— a favourite treasure in Buddhist temples, 6 _n._, 8
—— both sexes have, in India and Africa, 6 _n._, 8
—— fallacy as to the elephant shedding his tusks, 7
—— conjecture as to the presence of, in African elephant, and their
absence in that of India and Ceylon, 7
—— weight in various countries, 8 _n._
—— instance of a diseased one, 8 _n._
_See_ Brooke, Sir Victor
—— female elephant has none, in Ceylon, 9
—— not ordinarily used as weapons of offence, 9
—— fight between an elephant and two bulls, at Saragossa, 10 _n._
—— fight of two elephants with their tusks, 10
—— story in Maccabees of Jews killed by elephants, 16 _n._
—— what is their use, 17, 17 _n._
—— abnormal varieties in shape, 17 _n._
TYTLER, Mr., story of curiosity in elephants, 67 _n._
VALENTYN, his account of shipping elephants for India from Ceylon, 103
Vegetable ivory palm, 4 _n._
_Vulgar Errors._ _See_ Sir THOMAS BROWNE, 32
WATER, love of the elephant for, 4 _n._
—— attempt to derive the word _elephant_ from, 4 _n._
—— receptacle for, in the stomach, 56
—— quantities withdrawn by the trunk in the corral, 133
Weber’s _Metrical Romance_ of the thirteenth century, 12 _n._
Wells, dug by elephants, 54
White elephant; a lusus naturæ, 23
—— exhibited in Holland in 1633, 24
—— mentioned by Horace at Rome ib.
WHITE, GILBERT, of Selborne, on the affection of animals to the young
of others, 46 _n._
White oxen worshipped in Egypt, 23
WILKINSON, Sir GARDNER, on the knowledge of the elephant in ancient
Egypt, 152 _n._
WOLF, his strange adventures in Ceylon, 31 _n._, 48, 105 _n._
—— on the capture of wild elephants, 96 _n._
—— on the height of the elephant, 31
Wolves suckling children, 46 _n._
Wound of Lieut. Fretz, 90
WRIGHT’S _Reliquiæ Antiquæ_, 36
YOUNG, affection for, 47
Young elephants, their conduct when captured, 137
—— their tricks in captivity, 138, 148
YULE, Colonel, on the liability of the elephant to sudden death,
160 _n._
LONDON
PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO.
NEW-STREET SQUARE
POPULAR WORK ON NATURAL HISTORY BY REV. J. G. WOOD, M.A.
Second Edition now ready, in 1 vol. 8vo. price 21_s._ cloth; or, price
27_s._ half-bound in morocco by Rivière,
HOMES WITHOUT HANDS:
BEING A
DESCRIPTION OF THE HABITATIONS OF ANIMALS,
CLASSED ACCORDING TO THEIR PRINCIPLE OF CONSTRUCTION.
By J. G. WOOD, M.A., F.L.S.
With about 140 Illustrations engraved on Wood by G. Pearson, from
Original Designs made by F. W. Keyl and E. A. Smith, under the Author’s
superintendence.
‘_Homes Without Hands_ is more interesting than a fairy tale,
and shews how highly endowed are the inferior races, which
from the very first produced in perfection works to which the
nobler intellect of man could attain only after the discipline
and experience of centuries. There is scarcely an invention
of man of which the prototype may not be discovered in the
great patent office of Nature, nor a mechanical contrivance in
which he has not been anticipated by the insects and animals
which he is in the habit of regarding with contempt, if not
with loathing. The invention of paper was a new era in human
history, but wasps made veritable paper and papier-mâché from
the beginning of the world. Mankind waited through thousands
of years for Professor WHEATSTONE to invent the electric
telegraph, but the Arachnidæ had their lines in operation on
the morning when ADAM first opened his eyes upon the world.
The beaver was from the beginning conversant with the strength
and virtues of the arch; the burrowing spider made use of
the poppet valve; and as for the bearings of timbers and the
strength of materials, birds, beasts, and insects were well
acquainted with them thousands of years before VITRUVIUS or
TREDGOLD or FAIRBAIRN was born. The Author, in a fascinating
style and with a profusion of elegant engravings, illustrates
instinctive art in all its departments, from the labours of
the smallest insect up to those of the largest animal which
builds itself a dwelling. To enumerate the wonders contained
in the book we should be compelled to write an abstract of its
contents, for each page contains something that will interest
and delight the reader. It is a work calculated to bring
pleasures of the most rational and elevating kind into many
a school-room and many a family circle during the Christmas
season; and certainly it would be impossible to recommend a
more suitable book for a present to a young person.’
DAILY NEWS.
POPULAR WORKS BY DR. GEORGE HARTWIG.
Just published, with 8 full-page Engravings on Wood, from Original
Designs by F. W. Keyl, and about 200 Woodcuts in the Text, in One
Volume, 8vo. price 18_s._
THE HARMONIES OF NATURE;
OR, THE UNITY OF CREATION.
BY DR. GEORGE HARTWIG.
‘DR. HARTWIG has produced another delightful and instructive
volume, in which he illustrates the wonders of wisdom and
knowledge with which creation teems. The opening chapters
are devoted to a recapitulation of some of the magnificent
and astonishing phænomena which are observed in the heavens,
air, and sea, by way of developing the harmony which is
the universal law of nature. But throughout the greater
part of the work the Author confines himself to the domains
of vegetable and animal life; and here he accumulates a
surprising number of evidences of design, adaptation of
power, and inexhaustible resource. The work exhibits a very
unusual and most felicitous combination of accurate and
varied erudition with clear and popular writing. It is a true
instructor; for both the descriptions and the woodcuts with
which they are accompanied are scientifically correct, while
the narration is full of almost romantic interest. Each page
has some new wonder to enchant the youthful reader and excite
the reverent admiration of the thoughtful.... The reverence
and piety of Dr. HARTWIG’S works are a great recommendation
in days when scientific men seem to think their first duty in
speaking or writing is to avoid every word that could possibly
suggest the idea of a personal Deity and intelligent Creator.’
PATRIOT.
_Works by the same Author._
The TROPICAL WORLD: a Popular Scientific Account of the
Natural History of the Animal and Vegetable Kingdom in the
Equatorial Regions. With 8 Chromoxylographic Plates and
numerous Woodcuts. 8vo. 21_s._
The SEA and its LIVING WONDERS. With several hundred Woodcuts
in the Text, and a Series of Chromoxylographic Plates from
Original Designs by H. N. Humphreys. Third English Copyright
Edition. 8vo. 18_s._
‘This is the third edition, considerably enlarged, of the
first and best of Dr. HARTWIG’S beautiful and popular volumes
on natural history. The size of the book is increased by a
hundred pages; a good deal of it is remoulded; two whole new
chapters have been added, one on Marine Caves, the other on
Marine Constructions, such as Lighthouses and Breakwaters;
some of the old illustrations have disappeared, but their
place has been supplied by more and better; so that the new
edition really amounts to a recasting of the entire book. It
was a very good book before; it is better and more complete
now. Whether we regard the letterpress or the numerous
illustrations, it takes a rank second to none among ornamental
and popular books of science.’
GUARDIAN.
London: LONGMANS, GREEN, and CO. Paternoster Row.