An

sured nine feet six inches from the foot to the hipbone, and three feet from the hip-bone to the back, making a height of twelve feet six inches. elephant even of eight feet is, indeed, an enormous creature; and it is difficult to form an adequate idea of his bulk and stature from any description. In a small cell, also, his size cannot be correctly appre-> ciated. According to the principles of perspective, a large object is not properly seen, unless we are removed to about three times the distance of its height and size. In a favourable situation, such as a large inclosure, or theatre, where the proportions of the animal are well displayed, and he is seen in action, with man by his side, some notion may not only be formed of his vastness, but the mind may be incited to the contemplation of those arrangements of Providence, by which a creature of such prodigious bulk is enabled to provide his daily sustenance without difficulty in a natural state; and is endued with every requisite bodily activity and mental energy, for the enjoyment of existence in as great perfection of content as the squirrel which leaps from tree to tree, or the wild horse which gallops over boundless plains in search of the greenest pastures.

It seems agreed that a large elephant weighs from six thousand to seven thousand pounds. Of this weight the carcase is about four-fifths. To support such a structure, the legs must be solid and compact -formed more with regard to strength than flexibility-fitted, in fact, to bear an enormous weight upon a level surface, without any violent strains produced by sudden bounds, or by the necessity of ascending or descending great elevations. That the elephant was designed for this equability of motion is evident from its want of the elastic ligament which, in almost all quadrupeds, connects the head of the thigh-bone with the pelvis, and which gives the hind

legs power to resist the strain which is produced by moving upon irregular surfaces*. The elephant is indeed found in the neighbourhood of mountainous ranges; and, under the command of man, certainly ascends rocky passes, bearing a considerable weight: but that such a service is a violation of his natural habits is evident from the fact that in these situations he is liable to fall backward, not having that power of resistance in his hind-legs which enables many other quadrupeds to move in safety over craggy ground. Bernier, in his amusing "Travels in the Mogul Empire," indeed, states that," though heavy and unwieldy, these animals are yet sure-footed, feel→ ing their way when the road is difficult and dangerous, and assuring themselves of the firm hold of one foot before they move anothert." But this very caution indicates that the elephant is placed in an unnatural situation when he is required to ascend craggy steeps, and that his great sagacity alone enables him to overcome the difficulty. Bernier himself describes a remarkable accident which he witnessed, proceeding from this mode of compelling the elephant to a labour for which he is unfitted by nature:-"The King (Aurengzebe) was ascending the Peer-Punchal mountains, and from which a distant view of the kingdom of Kashmire is first obtained. He was followed by a long line of elephants, upon which sat the ladies in mik-dembers and amaris‡. The foremost, appalled, as is supposed, by the great length and acclivity of the path before him, stepped back upon the elephant that was moving in his track; who again pushed against the third elephant, the third against the fourth, and so on until fifteen of them, incapable of turning round or extricating them

129.

*See Home's Comparative Anatomy, vol. i. p. 95.
Bernier's Travels, translated by Brock, vol. ii. p.
Seats, with canopies.

selves in a road so steep and narrow, fell down the precipice. Happily for the women, the place where they fell was of no great height; only three or four were killed; but there were no means of saving any of the elephants. Whenever these animals fall under the immense burthen usually placed upon their backs, they never rise again, even on a good road. Two days afterwards we passed that way, and I observed that some of the poor elephants still moved their trunks*"

The peculiarity of the progressive movement of the elephant is generally attributed to the weight of his body; and it is so different from the motion of other animals with which we are familiar, that we are in the

habit of hastily calling the conformation which produces it a deformity. We "cannot allow that it is deformed, since those due proportions, laid down by the Author of Nature, are as well observed in this, as in any other animal; for nothing can be deformed but what swerves from a general rule*." To illustrate these proportions, we have had a drawing made of the skeleton of the elephant which was shot at Exeter Change. This skeleton, which is admirably preserved, has been set up with great skill at the Museum of the London University.

To understand the progressive motion of the elephant, it will be desirable to compare the bones of his legs with those of the horse. For this object we add a representation of the skeleton of the latter. It will be obvious that, without reckoning the

*Blair on the Elephant, Phil. Trans. vol. xxvii.

joint which unites the hoof, the horse has three bones in the leg, -the elephant has two. For this reason the horse moves with an elastic pace, while the elephant has a grave and stiff progression ;and this want of elasticity renders it disagreeable to ride on him for any distance. It will be evident also, from an inspection of the two skeletons, why the horse, in kneeling, brings his hind-legs under his body, while those of the elephant go behind him, exactly in the same way as man kneels.

The legs of the elephant are supported upon broad hoofs, each terminated, in the adult animal, by five nails. The whole number of nails is seldom deve→ loped on the hind feet. The author of Oriental Field Sports says, "To please a native, there should be five on each fore-foot, and four on each hind foot: odd numbers are considered by them as unlucky*. I have known some with fifteen nails, which no native would purchase; and I have heard of one with twenty but I do not recollect seeing one with more than eighteen." The sole of an elephant's foot is nearly circular; and in one of eight feet high is about twelve inches in diameter.

Supported, then, upon these solid pillars, an elephant moves forward in search of food. His diet is wholly vegetable. The intestines are formed upon the same principle as in the horse. It has been observed by Sir Everard Home, that "the colon in animals that live upon the same species of food is of a greater length in proportion to the scantiness of the supply. Among quadrupeds this may be illustrated by the length of the colon in the elephant being only twenty feet six inches, while in the dromedary it is forty-two. The first inhabits the fertile woods of Asia; the latter the arid deserts of

*This is almost the only exception to the universal faith in odd numbers,