so willing to perform. Her reward was a carrot and some water; but, previously to satisfying her thirst by an ample draught, she would exhibit her ingenuity in emptying the contents of a soda-water bottle, which was tightly corked. This she effected in a singularly adroit manner. Pressing the small bottle against the ground with her enormous foot, so as to hold it securely at an angle of about forty-five degrees, she gradually twisted out the cork with her trunk, although it was very little above the edge of the neck; then, without altering the position, she turned the trunk round the bottle, so that she might reverse it, and thus empty the water into the extremity of the proboscis. This she accomplished without spilling a drop; and she delivered the empty bottle to her keeper before she attempted to discharge the contents of the trunk into the mouth. She performed another trick which required equal nicety and patience. The keeper, who was accustomed to ride on her neck like the mohouts, or elephant drivers of India, had a large cloth or housing which he spread over her when he thus bestrode her in somewhat of Oriental state. Upon alighting, which she allowed him to do by kneeling, he desired her to take off the cloth. This she effected by putting the muscles of her loins in action, so that the shrinking of her loose skin gave motion to the cloth, and it gradually wriggled on one side, till it fell by its own weight. The cloth

was then, of course, in a heap; but the elephant, spreading it carefully upon the grass with her trunk, folded it up as a napkin is folded, till it was sufficiently compact for the purpose. She then poised it with her trunk for a few seconds, and by one

jerk threw it over her head to the centre of her back, where it remained as steady as if the burden had been adjusted by human hands. The affection of this poor animal for her keeper was very great. The man who had the charge of her in 1828, when we saw her, had attended her for five years, having succeeded another who had been with her eight or ten years. When first placed under his charge, she was intractable for some time, evidently resenting the loss of her former friend; but she gradually became obedient and attached, and would cry after him whenever he was absent for more than a few hours. The elephants of India, in the same way, cannot easily be brought to obey a stranger, and manifest a remarkable knowledge of their old mohouts if they should meet after a long separation.* The elephant of the Duke of Devonshire was about twenty-one years old when she died, early in 1829. We have understood that the disease which carried her off was pulmonary consumption.

The inhabitants of London have recently witnessed the dramatic exhibition of an elephant, which has afforded them a more remarkable example of the sagacity of this quadruped than the ordinary docility which it manifests at the command of the showman. The elephant which attracted crowds to the Adelphi Theatre was probably not more sagacious than the greater number of her species; but she was well disciplined, and she exhibited her feats with considerable effect, by their adaptation to scenic display. To march in a procession, to kneel down without any more perceptible bidding than the waving of a hand, to salute a particular * See Williamson's Oriental Field Sports, p. 41.

individual, to place a crown on the head of the "true prince," to eat and drink with great gravity and propriety of demeanour, and to make her reverence to an audience without any apparent signal, are striking evidences of the tractability of the crea ture; but they are by no means of the class of novel exhibitions, and they have been excelled by other performances, of which we have a distinct record. One of the most remarkable narratives of the ancient display of elephants in a theatre is that of Elian, who has described, in a very lively manner, the extreme docility of the elephants of Germanicus. At that period elephants were bred at Rome; a fact which has been most unaccountably overlooked in the descriptions of modern naturalists, but the prac ticability of which has received abundant confirmation from recent experience. Great care, according to Elian, was paid to their health; and the nicest discipline was used to extinguish whatever was ferocious in their nature, and to call forth their sagacity by undeviating kindness. Particular attention was directed to the effect of music upon them; and they were so accustomed to musical instruments, that they not only lost all dread of the clashing of cimbals, but learned to feel delight at the gentle notes of flutes, and would beat time with their feet when their ears were gratified with the agreeable sounds to which they were habituated. Their keeper accustomed them also to the sight of great multitudes of people. Upon an occasion when a particular exhibition of the docility of the elephants was required, twelve of the most sagacious and well-trained were selected, who, marching into the theatre with a regular step, at the voice of their

keeper moved in harmonious circle, and sometimes divided into parties, scattering flowers over the pavement. In the intervals of the dance they would beat time to the music, still preserving their proper order. The Romans, with their accustomed luxury, feasted the elephants after this display with prodigal munificence. Splendid couches were placed in the arena, ornamented with paintings and covered with tapestry. Before the couches, upon tables of ivory and cedar, was spread the banquet of the elephants, in vessels of gold and silver. The preparations being completed, the twelve elephants marched in, six clad in the robes of men, and six females attired as women. They lay down in order upon their couches, and, at a signal, extended their trunks and ate with most praiseworthy moderation. Not one of them, says Elian, appeared the least voracious, or manifested any disposition for an unequal share of the food or an undue proportion of the delicacies. They were as moderate, also, in their drink, and received the cups which were presented to them with the greatest decorum. According to Pliny, at the spectacles giv. en by Germanicus it was not an uncommon thing to see elephants hurl javelins in the air and catch them in their trunks, fight with each other as gladiators, and then execute a Pyrrhic dance. Lastly, they danced upon a rope, and their steps were so practised and certain, that four of them traversed the rope, bearing a litter which contained one of their companions, who feigned to be sick.* This

* It is difficult to understand how the elephants could carry a litter without walking along two parallel ropes. The text of Pliny gives no elucidation of this point.

a rope.

feat of dancing or walking upon a rope might, perhaps, be doubted, if it rested merely upon the tes. timony of a single author; but the practice is confirmed by many ancient writers of authority, who agree with Pliny, that the elephants trained at Rome would not only walk along a rope forward, but retire backward with equal precision. Seneca describes an elephant who, at the command of his African keeper, would kneel down and walk upon Suetonius also mentions, that an elephant, in the presence of the Emperor Galba, climbed up an inclined rope to the roof of the theatre, and descended in the same way, bearing a sitter. Dion gives a similar testimony to the extraordinary power of so heavy an animal to walk along a rope without any balance; a docility which is the more wonderful when we bear in mind that one of the strongest instincts which the elephant possesses is that which impels him to experiment upon the stability of every surface which he is required to cross before he will trust his body to the chance of breaking down the support which is prepared for him. The yielding rope must have called this instinct into action; although, it should be observed, that the elephant will pass a bridge which vibrates, when nothing will induce him to set foot upon one whose tottering condition manifests its insecurity.* It may a little abate our surprise at the rope-dancing faculty of the elephant, when we learn that a horse has exhibited the same performance. At the solemnities which attended the wedding of Robert, brother to the king of France, in 1237, a horse was ridden along a rope.†

* Williamson's Field Sports.

+ Leibnitz Accessiones Historicæ, quoted in Beckmann, vol. iii.