Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 03.djvu/575

LEFT ELEPHANTA 601 ELEPHANT SEAL dragging guns. Elephants are used in ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH, an in- the East for carrying persons on their sect with upper wings olive-brown in- backs, a number being seated together dining to olive green, with purple- in a howdah, while the driver (mahout) tinged, rose-red markings, a white mar- sits on the elephant's neck, directing it gin and spot, and a red fringe. Under by his voice and by a small goad, wings dusky at the base, and reddish- Elephants have always a conspicuous purple posteriorly, with a pure white place in the great processions and state fringe. The caterpillar feeds on the wil- displays of Asiatic princes, and white lowherbs, the vine, etc. The small ele- AFRICAN ELEPHANT elephants — albinos — are peculiarly val- ued. Instances are on record of ex- treme longevity in domestication extend- ing not only to more than 100, but al- most to 200 years. ELEPHANTA, an island over 4 miles in circuit, in the harbor of Bombay, 6 miles E. of the city, and 4 miles from the mainland. It owed its European name to a large figure of an elephant which stood near its former landing- place, but which, after 1814, gradually sank into a shapeless mass. Of the island's far-famed Brahmanic rock- caves, four are complete, or nearly so; the most important is the Great Temple, still used by the Hindus on Sivaite festi- vals. The word is also used to designate the thunder storm that marks the end of the rainy season in the region around Bombay, India. ELEPHANT APPLE, a tree that grows in India. It is of the orange tribe, and is large and handsome, with pin- nate leaves and a large gray fruit with a very hard rind. phant hawk-moth is one of the smallest species of the genus, being usually but 20 lines long. ELEPHANTIASIS (-ti'a-sis), a cu- taneous disease, especially prevalent in Egypt. It is so called from its likeness to an elephant's hide. ELEPHANTINE (-ti'ne), a small is- land of Egypt, in the Nile, opposite As- suan. It is covered with ruins piled on each other — Egyptian, Roman, Saracen, and Arabic, the most important being a gateway of the time of Alexander, a small temple dedicated to Khnum and founded by Amenophis II., and the an- cient Nilometer mentioned by Strabo. The island gave the 5th dynasty to Egypt. ELEPHANT SEAL, the proboscis seal, or sea-elephant, the largest of the seal family. There are probably two species, one found only on the coast of Cali- fornia and western Mexico, the other found in Patagonia. Kerguelen Island, Heard's Island, and other parts of the Southern Seas. They vary in length