generic name (Loxodonte) has therefore been proposed for the African elephant. The obscurity which formerly prevailed respecting the mode of reproduction of the elephant has been dissipated in a great measure by the accurate and assiduous observations of our countryman, Mr. Corse. And it is a remarkable instance of the difficulty of eradicating a popular error or prejudice, that notwithstanding the circumstantial evidence and authentic description given by this gentleman relative to the above subject, it is still very generally believed that in a state of subjection the elephant is unalterably barren; and that though it has been reduced under the dominion of man for ages, yet, as if it had a proper sense of its degraded condition, it refuses to increase the pride and power of its conquerors by propagating a race of slaves. This circumstance was adduced by Buffon as one of the most striking instances of the superiority of the elephant, in its moral condition, over other quadrupeds. Mr. Corse, who resided for more than ten years at Tiperah, a province of Bengal, where herds of elephants are taken every season, and who for five years had the Company's elephant hunters entirely under his direction, has completely disproved these assertions. Twice during that period he succeeded in breeding from elephants in a state of captivity and servitude, and observes that this mode of supplying the Indian community with so useful an animal is abandoned only from its being more expensive than the ordinary method by the capture of the wild herds; since the elephants, after being reduced by the process of training, require rest and high feeding to bring them into the requisite condition. In this way was ascertained the precise period of gestation in the elephant, which Mr. Corse states to be twenty months and eighteen days. The young animal when born is 35 inches high. It soon begins to nibble and suck the breast, pressing it with its trunk to make the milk flow more readily into its mouth while sucking. It has never been observed to use its proboscis in any other manner during this act, but invariably seized the nipple with the side of its mouth. At this period it is a common practice with the elephant attendants to raise a small mound of earth, about six or eight inches high, for the young one to stand on, and thus to save the mother the trouble of bending her body every time she gives suck; for she has never been observed to lie down for that purpose. The nipples are two in number, and are situated between the fore legs. It is remarkable that the elephant, although having but one young, has by no means a strong affection for it: instances have occurred of the mother leaving her offspring and escaping into the woods. If a wild elephant happens to be separated from her young for only two days, though giving suck, she never afterwards recognises or acknowledges it. "I have been much mortified," says Mr. Corse, "at such unnatural conduct, particularly when it was evident the young elephant knew its dam, and by its plaintive cries and submissive approaches solicited her assistance." During the first year the elephant grows eleven inches, and is three feet eleven inches high; in the second he grows eight inches; in the third six; in the fourth year five inches; about the same in the fifth year; in the sixth year three inches and a half; and in the seventh year two inches and a half,-measuring then six feet four inches in height. During the succeeding ten years the growth is comparatively slow. The male is longer in attaining his full growth than the female, seldom having acquired it before his twenty-sixth year. The height of the elephant has been much exaggerated. In India the height of the female is in general from seven to eight feet, and that of the male from eight to ten feet, measured at the shoulder. "I have never heard," says Mr. Corse," but of one elephant, on good authority, that much exceeded ten feet; this was a male belonging to the Vizier of Oude. The admeasurements of this animal were as follow: From foot to foot over the shoulder From the top of the shoulder, perpendicular height From the front of the face to the insertion of the tail Feet. In. 22 104 10 6 12 2 15 11 "The Madras elephants have been said to be from seventeen to twenty feet high: but to show how much the natives of India are inclined to the marvellous, and how liable Europeans themselves are to mistakes, I will relate a circumstance that happened to myself. "Having heard from several gentlemen who had been at Dacca that the Nabob there had an elephant about fourteen feet high, I was desirous to measure him, especially as I had seen him often myself during the year 1785, and then supposed him to be above twelve feet. After being at Tiperah, and having seen many elephants caught, and finding all of them much inferior in height to what I supposed the Nabob's elephant, I went to Dacca in 1789, determined to see this huge animal measured. At first I sent for the driver, to ask some questions concerning this elephant; he without hesitation assured me he was from ten to twelve cubits, that is, from fifteen to eighteen feet high; but added, he could not without the Nabob's permission bring me the elephant to be examined. Permission was accordingly asked and granted. I had him measured exactly, and was rather surprised to find he did not exceed ten feet in height.' The Hon. Company's standard for serviceable elephants is seven feet and upwards, measured at the shoulder in the same manner as horses are. At the middle of the back they are considerably higher, the curve of which, particularly in young elephants, makes a difference of several inches. After an elephant has attained his full growth, it is a sure sign of old age when this curve becomes less, and still more so when the back is flat or a little depressed. A partial depression of the spine is however not unfrequently observed even in very young elephants, and is in general the effect of external injury: for in herds of wild elephants just taken, Mr. Corse observes, "it is no uncommon circumstance for the large elephants, both male and female, to vent their rage upon the young ones, putting the projecting part of the upper jaw, from which the tusks grow out, on the spine of the young ones, and pressing them violently to the ground, while they roared out from pain." Having thus described the differences which characterize the African and Asiatic elephants, and traced the latter from its birth to its maturity, we shall next briefly advert to such circumstances as may be most usefully known to those destined to reside in our Indian dominions. The impositions practised by the elephant dealers upon the inexperienced European in the purchase of this expensive animal, are as common in India as those of the horse-jockey in our own country; for not only do the elephants participate in as many various bodily defects as the horse, but they exhibit as great varieties of disposition. When the price of a perfect elephant is demanded, the buyer should assure himself, first, that the animal is of the full size-if a male, not less than eight feet high, with the arch or curve of his back rising gradually from the shoulder to the middle, and thence descending to the insertion of the tail; and that all the joints are firm and strong: the nails should not be overgrown, and should be perfect in number, viz. five nails on each of the fore feet, and four on each of the hind ones, making eighteen in all; the tusks perfect and unbroken; the head well set on, and carried rather high; the ears large and rounded, not ragged or indented at the margin; the eyes of a dark hazel colour, free from specks; the roof of the mouth and tongue without dark or black spots of any considerable size; the trunk large, and the tail long, with a tuft of hair reaching nearly to the ground. There are some other points of less consequence which are taken notice of by the natives as well as Europeans; but the qualities above mentioned ought to be associated in every animal for which the full price is demanded, whatever may be its race or variety. Two principal varieties of elephant are recognised in Bengal, viz. the Koomereah (or princely caste) and the Merghee (or hunting caste); and these are not distinguished by the size or form of the tusks, which serve merely to characterize subordinate varieties in these two principal forms. The koomereah is a deep-bodied, strong, compact elephant, with a large trunk, and the legs short but thick in proportion to the size of the animal. The merghee when full grown is generally taller than the former, but has not so compact a form, nor is he so strong, or so capable of bearing fatigue. His legs are long; he travels fast; has a lighter body, and his trunk is both short and slender in proportion to his height. A large trunk is always esteemed a great beauty in an elephant; so that the koomereah is preferred, not only for this, but for its superior strength, by which it can undergo greater fatigue and carry heavier loads than the merghee. A breed from a pure koomereah and merghee is termed Sunkareah (or mixed breed): but besides these three, several other varieties are generally to be found in the same herd; but the nearer an elephant approaches to the true koomereah caste the more he is preferred, especially by the natives, and the higher price he will consequently bear. Europeans are not so particular, and will sometimes prefer a merghee female for hunting and riding on, when she is known to have remarkably good paces, and to be of a mild and tractable disposition. The incisors or cutting teeth assume in the elephant the peculiar form which has obtained for them the name of tusks. They exist in the upper jaw only, and are two in number. In the females of the Asiatic species they are so small as not to appear beyond the lip; in the African species they are very large, and of equal size in both the sexes. In the Asiatic males they project in some individuals to a considerable distance from the mouth, whilst in others their size scarcely exceeds that of the tusks in the female. Now both these varieties are found in the koomereah as well as in the merghee castes. The long-tusked males are termed Dauntelahs (or toothed males); the short-tusked ones, Mooknahs (or face-males). The animal figured at the commencement of the present Number is a mooknah of the koomereah variety, and is hardly to be distinguished by his head from a female of the same kind. Notwithstanding the difference in the appearance of a mooknah and a dauntelah, yet if they are of the same caste, size, and disposition, and free from any defect or blemish, there is scarcely any difference in their price. The dauntelah is generally more daring and less manageable than the mooknah: for this reason, until the temper and disposition of the two species are ascertained, Europeans will prefer the mooknah; but the natives, who are fond of show, generally take their chance and prefer the dauntelah, which, when known to be of a mild and gentle disposition, will always be preferred both by Europeans and natives. It is obvious that particulars similar to those above recited, could only have been ascertained after a long and intimate association of the elephant with the wants and luxuries of civilized man and as this stupendous quadruped is not, like the ordinary domesticated animals, a born slave, but in every instance must be withdrawn by fraud and force from its native swamps and forests, our readers we are sure will excuse our digressing from the strictly descriptive account to which we had proposed to limit ourselves in the present Number, in order to lay before them a brief sketch of the modes in which the elephant is entrapped. The rudest of these contrivances, and probably the one which was earliest adopted, is to dig a pit, and cover the mouth over with a light wooden platform, concealed by branches of trees, grass, and herbs of which the elephant is fond. A trap of this kind must however have rarely proved successful, in consequence of the intuitive caution which the elephant uniformly manifests when treading upon insecure and suspicious ground. In the event of one being thus cap-. tured, he is left in the pit until his violence subsides, and he is rendered sufficiently tractable by starvation; and he is liberated, by throwing in sheaves of jungle grass, which the sagacious animal treading under foot, at length attains, as they accumulate, an elevation which enables him to step out of the pit. Thus subdued, the captive elephant is soon made the instrument of enslaving his species; and in this he exercises considerable ingenuity, courage, and perseverance. Mr. Corse observes*, "In the month of November, when the * Asiatic Researches, vol. iii. |