220 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE.

and lively; his ears are broad, long, and pendulous. He has
two large tusks, and a trunk or proboscis at the extremity
of the nose, which he uses to take his food with, and, in
case of necessity, for attack or defence. His legs are thick
and long, and his feet are divided into five rounded toes.
His colour is a dark ash brown. There are elephants,
however, of a white or cream colour. The African is dis-
tinguished from the Indian variety by the size of its ears,
which in the African species are very large. Dr. Livingstone
gave the measurement of the ears of a female he killed, as
four feet five inches in depth and four feet in horizontal
breadth, and said he had seen a native creep under one so
as to be completely covered from the rain. The ear of the
Indian variety is not more than a third of this size. Gen-
erally the elephants of Africa and especially those of the
south are larger than those of India. The most striking
characteristic of the elephant is his trunk. “In this,” says the
Rev. J. G. Wood, “there are about forty thousand muscles,
enabling the elephant to shorten, lengthen, coil up, or move
in any direction this most extraordinary organ. The trunk is
pierced throughout its length by two canals, through which
liquids can be drawn by suction. If the elephant wishes
to drink, after drawing the liquid into its trunk, it inserts
the end of its proboscis into its mouth, and discharges the
contents down its throat; but if it merely wishes to wash
itself or play, it blows the contained liquid from the trunk
with great violence. Through the trunk the curious trumpet-
like voice of the elephant is produced. At the extremity is
a finger-like appendage, with which it can pick up small ob-
jects.” The elephant is thirty years old before he attains
maturity. He lives on foliage, herbs, and fruits, having a spe-
cial taste for those which are sweet.

The wila The elephant is naturally a quiet and inoffensive

Elephant. animal, and being gifted with an unusually keen
scent and sense of hearing, will usually decamp on the approach