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below or above his head, the substance gathered is introduced into his mouth by the inward flexure of the proboscis. The food then receives its due mastication *.

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A country full of succulent plants, and plentifully supplied with showers and pools, is the natural abode of the elephant. Copious draughts of water are necessary to his existence. His trunk is the instrument by which he collects his liquid sustenance. By drawing in his breath he receives the necessary supply into the channels of his trunk, and, when he pleases, discharges it into his mouth. Perhaps a partial contraction of the diameter of the tubes of the trunk, which Cuvier has shewn to be a necessary consequence of the formation of one set of the transverse *See chap. iii,

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As an organ of touch, the proboscis of the elephant is exquisitely fine. Elephants sometimes go blind; and, under that privation, the poor animal can not only collect its food, and discriminate as to its quality, by this wonderful instrument, but can travel, without much difficulty, over unequal ground, avoiding lumps and hollows, and stepping over ditches. The creature, under such circumstances, rarely touches the ground with its trunk; but, projecting it forward as far as possible, lets the finger, which is curled inward to protect the nostrils, skim along the surface, to the inequalities of which this organ adjusts itself with wonderful exactness *.

The great care of the elephant, whether he be in a state of nature, or under the control of man, is invariably to put his trunk out of harm, as far as he can, when any danger presents itself. If he is attacked by a tiger, or any other wild animal, he carries his trunk as high as he can in the air; and if this delicate organ be in the slightest degree injured, the elephant becomes wild with rage and terror. He is even afraid of a dead tiger, and carefully puts his trunk out of reach. The instinct by which the creature defends and preserves this precious instrument, is in proportion to its paramount importance. Mr. Williamson saw an elephant whose trunk had been cut through with a bill-hook; and though the wound was healed, the animal was perfectly helplessunable to supply its own food, and incapable of even travelling without danger. He was fed with bundles of grass, which were put into his mouth; had he been in a state of nature, he must have perished. An affecting example of the instinct with which the elephant preserves his trunk, is exhibited in the death of the poor animal who was burnt at Dublin, * See Williamson, p. 78,

The author of the Anatomical Account says"Doubtless the elephant's care to preserve the proboscis was great; for when we dissected him we found it thrust near two feet into a very hard ground; upon which account we thought it had been burnt, till the head was divided from the body, and then we found it kept fast to the ground by the proboscis."

The care with which the elephant endeavours to put his trunk out of danger makes him extremely cautious of using it as a weapon. He rarely strikes with it; though he will frequently throw clods and stones with it at objects which he dislikes. Elephants often thus attack hogs, casting their missiles with tolerable force and precision *. This fact is a confirmation of Busbec's account of the animal playing at ball. One of the elephants in the Jardin des Plantes is extremely expert at playing with a log of wood, which it will often do, to the great amusement of the crowd.

The power of crossing rivers must be essential to the existence of the elephant in a state of nature; for the quantity of food which a herd of elephants consume renders it necessary that they should be constantly moving from place to place. The elephant crosses a stream in two ways. If the bed of the river is hard, and the water not of too great a depth, he fords it. It is a matter of indifference to him whether his body be completely immersed in the water; for as long as he can bring the tip of his trunk to the surface, so as to breathe the external air, he is safe. But the elephant will require to cross the largest rivers as well as the smallest brooks, in his search for food; and it may even be requisite for him to pass such mighty waters as the Ganges and the Niger. The elephant swims deep-so deep that the

* Williamson.

end of his trunk only is out of the water. With this instrument for breathing, he trusts himself fearlessly to his native rivers. In a state of captivity, he is somewhat more cautious; although a well-trained elephant will readily swim, or wade with his driver on his back. This situation is, however, sometimes one of danger to the rider; for the animal, regardless of the mohout, whom he has completely in his power, will sink his body greatly below the surface, having this faculty of breathing through the end of his trunk; and then the frightened driver has no resource but to stand upon his back.

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