Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/529

 ELEPHANT 521 long ears, and cheek teeth with lozenge-shaped divisions of the croAvn ; the generic name of F. Cuvier was founded on the last characteris- tic. It inhabits Africa from Calfraria to the Niger, living in similar localities and with the same manners as the other species. The males attain a height of over 12 ft., but decrease in size north of 20 S. latitude ; the tusks, how- ever, are larger as you approach the equator; the females are smaller than the males. The natives estimate the height of this species by doubling the circumference of the impression made by the fore foot ; this is tolerably accu- rate for adult animals. In the most favorable localities the African elephant is considerably larger than the Asiatic ; but toward the equa- tor the female African is about as large as the Asiatic male. The ear of the African species is sufficient to distinguish it, being often more than 5 ft. long and 4 ft. wide, three times as large as that of the other species ; it descends African Elephant. upon the legs, and is frequently used as a sledge at the Cape of Good Hope. From the ancient coins it is evident that this species was known by the old naturalists, and it has been justly said that Aristotle knew it better than did Buifon. It seems to be a dainty feeder, selecting the sweetest fruits and vegetable matters containing sugar, mucilage, and gum ; there is a dwarfish evergreen, the speck boom, which forms very dense jungles in Calfraria, utterly useless on account of its pithy branch- es even for fuel ; this is a favorite food of ele- phants, which formerly frequented this region in large herds, whose paths are still discerni- ble on the hillsides, and whose bones are still bleaching in all directions. From this selec- tion of food they are not so injurious to the vegetation of a district as would be supposed, quality being more requisite than quantity. Most of the native tribes hunt them more for their flesh than their ivory, the latter, until the advent of Europeans, being of little value to them except for rings and ornaments ; the flesh is much relished as food, and the internal fat is highly prized for domestic and medicinal purposes. They hunted them with light jave- lins of their own making, overpowering them by numbers. This species is wilder and fiercer than the Asiatic elephant, defending its young with great courage, and furiously attacking the hunter; though not domesticated in modern times, it probably might be as easily as the other species, were the same pains taken to tame and train it; it can hardly be doubt- ed that the elephants used by the Cartha- ginians in their wars with the Romans were of African origin. The male tusk is from 6 to 8 ft. long, and weighs from 60 to 100 Ibs. ; Cumming mentions a single one in his posses- sion lOf ft. long, and weighing 173 Ibs. ; the price which they bring in the English market is from 22 to 32 per 112 Ibs., according to quality. Such is the terror which these ani- mals have acquired from the persecutions of man, that a child will put a herd to flight ; they are very difficult to hunt, from their hiding themselves in the most remote and in- accessible forests, going often 20 miles by night to water. When at ease they sleep on their sides, but when liable to be disturbed they sleep standing; their gait, when natural, is bold, free, light, and graceful. Cumming in his "Hunter's Life in South Africa" gives an interesting description of the manner in which the Bechuanas cook the feet and trunk of the elephant in hot earth and sand. In his ex- perience from 5 to 30 rifle shots were necessary to kill an elephant, and the best place to direct them is just behind the shoulder ; it is useless to aim at the front of the head, as the chances of a ball penetrating the brain from this di- rection are very small. Sir Samuel Baker in his "Eifle and Hound in Ceylon," however, says that he was accustomed to kill elephants by a single rifle shot directly in the forehead. Many species of fossil elephants are described from the drift of Europe and Asia ; the best known of these, the E. primigenius (Cuv.), will be treated in the article MAMMOTH, which is the common name ; their remains have been abundantly found in Siberia, and fossil ivory from this source has been an important object of trade. The fossil elephants of Europe re- semble most the Asiatic species, but they were more bulky, with larger tusks, narrower teeth, and with the skin covered with hair and wool to enable them to dwell in climates colder than any in which these animals are now found,. though not in a climate so rigorous as that of Siberia at the present time, which would be unable to furnish the necessary vegetable food. Fossil species resembling the African, and others with mastodon-like teeth, have been found in the Himalaya mountains by Cautley and Falconer. The fossil elephant of North America is said by Prof. H. D. Rogers to occur above the drift, in the superficial deposits of a distinctly later age ; it must therefore have been contemporary with the mastodon gigan-