Home › Curiosities Respecting Animals › Chap. XIV

Chap. XIV

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANIMALS.-(Continued.) The Elephant-Fossil Elephant-The Chameleon-The Common Tortoise-Orang-Outang-The Unicorn-The Common Seal-- The Ursine Seal-American Natural History.

Let no presuming impious railer tax Creative wisdom, as if aught was form'd In vain, or not for admirable ends.

Thomson.

THE ELEPHANT. - This is a very wonderful animal; and has, both in ancient and modern times, been duly estimated in the Eastern world. His virtues are thus enumerated by Buffon:--To form a just estimation of the elephant, he must be allowed to possess the sagacity of the beaver, the address of the ape, the sentiment of the dog, together with the peculiar advantages of strength, largeness, and long duration of life. Neither should we overlook his arms or tusks, which enable him to transfix and conquer the lion! We should also consider that the earth shakes under his feet; that with his trunk, as with a hand, he tears up trees; that by a push of his body he makes a breach in a wall; that, though tremendous in strength, he is rendered still more invincible by his enormous mass, and by the thickness of his skin; that he can carry on his back an armed tower, filled with many warriors; that he works machines, and carries burdens, which six horses are unable to move; that to this prodigious strength he adds courage, prtdence, coolness, and punctual obedience; that he preserves moderation even in his most violent passions; that he is constant and impetuous in love; that when in anger, he mistakes not his friends; that he never attacks any but those who offend him; that he remembers favours as long as injuries; that having no appetite for flesh, he feeds on vegetables alone, and is born an enemy to no living creature; and, in fine, that he is universally beloved, because all animals respect, and none have any reason to fear him!

The following account is extracted from Forbes's Oriental Memoirs, a highly interesting work. " The largest gest Elephants are from ten to eleven feet in height, in height, some are said to exceed it; the average is eight or nine feet. They are fifty or sixty years Score they arrive at their full growth; the female goes with young eighteen months, and seldom produces more than one at a birth, which she suckles until it is five years old: its natural life is about one hundred L M