Chapter XXV: Proboscidian Fictions

In the history of nearly all animals, there will be found associated some curious fiction.

In Burmah and Siam, the white elephant is supposed, by some, to be the abode of a transmigratory Buddha; and in India, certain elephants with a single right tusk are reverenced. In China, the tusks of the mammoth are used in medicine; and in some of the old works, the mammoth itself is described as a huge rat, which lives under the ground in burrows, formed by the tusks, or teeth. The origin of this fable lies in the fact, that, as mammoths were always found beneath the surface, it was assumed, that, when alive, they lived there. Early anatomists stated that the elephant’s head was a storehouse for the water which it blew out of its trunk.

It was formerly believed that elephants shed their tusks, as do deer their horns. Ælian says that they drop them once in ten years, which, all things considered, is quite often enough. Pliny repeats the story, but adds some private information of his own, to the effect that they always hid their tusks underground.

This curious error has found its way into many comparatively modern works: thus, Sir William Jardine states, in the naturalist’s library, that “the tusks are shed about the twelfth or the tenth year.”

Many strange beliefs were entertained regarding the elephant of Ceylon. Travellers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as Pyrard, Bernier, and Phillipe, stated that this elephant was the superior of all others in India, both physically and mentally; and Tavernier is supposed to be authority for the statement, that, if a Ceylon elephant be introduced among others, the latter will instinctively do him homage by touching the ground with their trunks.

Phile records the fact that elephants have two hearts. He argued that this was so, because the animal showed extremes of temperament,—one heart controlling the beast when good-humored and docile, and the other when it exhibited the characteristics of the rogue.

The older naturalists had few opportunities for making careful anatomical examinations of the elephant, and, naturally, fell into many errors; one of which was, that elephants from sixteen to twenty feet high were not uncommon. Major Denman observed some in Africa which he “guessed” were sixteen feet high; though he afterwards measured one that had been killed, which was twelve feet six inches at the back. Works were published in the last century, which gave the height of the animal as from twelve to fifteen feet; and Sir John Hill, M.D., in his “Natural History of Animals,” 1752, states that elephants were said to measure, when full grown, twenty feet at the shoulder.

It is needless to say that this was a gross exaggeration. Reference has been made, in a previous chapter, to the size of elephants; and it will be found that a twelve-foot animal is an extreme rarity. The skeleton that is preserved in the St. Petersburg museum, which is said to stand sixteen feet and a half high, is the tallest known, being a foot taller than the skeleton of the fossil elephant which was discovered at Jubbalpore. It is doubtful if the European mammoth or the American form, _Elephas Americanus_,—a tooth of which is shown in Plate I.,—attained this height. One of the largest elephant skeletons to be seen in this country belongs to the Chicago Medical College, and represents an elephant shot in a gorge of the Himalaya Mountains, about a thousand miles from Calcutta, in 1865. Its dimensions are as follows:—

FT. IN.
From top of shoulder to bottom of fore-foot 11 2
From top of head to root of tail 12
Length of trunk, from root to tip 7
Circumference of fore-arm 6 3
Circumference of fore-foot 3 3

The following are measurements of a large African male elephant, made by Thomas Baines, F.R.G.S., which show the average dimensions of an animal of the largest size:—

FT. IN.
Half the girth of the body 8 9
Half the girth behind the shoulder 7 9
Half the girth before the hind-leg 7 11
Length of tail, exclusive of hairy tuft 4
From insertion of tail to top of forehead 9 11
Top of forehead to insertion of trunk 3
Length of trunk 6 8
Total length of animal 20 10
From front of ear to back 3 9
From top to bottom of ear 5 3
Half breadth from eye to eye 1 9
Length of eye 3
From fore-foot to centre of spine 11 6
Actual height at shoulder 10 9
Height at middle of the back 12
Hind-foot to spine 9 3
Actual height 8 9
Projection of tusk beyond upper lip 2
Girth of tusk 1
Breadth of fore-foot 1 6
Length of fore-foot 1 9
Breadth of hind-foot 1
Length of hind-foot 2

Some extremely interesting measurements have been made of the skeleton of the elephant Jumbo, by Professor Ward of Rochester, who compares them, in a pamphlet, with a skeleton of the _Mastodon giganteus_, discovered at Orange County, N.Y. It is too lengthy and technical to be introduced in this connection. The measurements already given are sufficient to show that the elephants of over eleven or twelve feet are extremely rare, while those of eighteen and twenty belong to the world of fiction.

The absence of joints was a feature of the elephant, according to some of the old writers. Sir Thomas Browne, in his “Pseudodoxia Epidemica,” says, “It hath no joynts;” and “being unable to lye down, it lieth against a tree, which the hunters observing doe saw almost asunder, whereon the beast relying, by the fall of the tree falls also downe itselfe, and is able to rise no more.” Sir Thomas thinks that “the hint and ground of this opinion might be the grosse and somewhat cylindrical composure of the legs of the elephant, and the equality and less perceptible disposure of the joynts, especially in the fore-legs of the animal, they appearing, when he standeth, like pillars of flesh.”

The honor of discovering jointless animals belongs properly to Pliny, who described the _machlis_, a Scandinavian animal without joints. Cæsar, in describing the wild animals of the Hercynian forests, mentions the alce, “in color and configuration approaching the goat, but surpassing it in size, its head destitute of horns, and its limbs of joints.” It is evident that Aristotle had some doubt as to whether elephants possessed joints in their knees; and Ælian, writing two hundred years later, perpetuated the error, expressing his surprise that the elephants in Rome could dance, when they had no joints. This fiction was taken up by the poets of the time, and is found in many old writings. Phile, a contemporary of Dante, addressed a poem on the elephant to the Emperor Andross II., in which he expressed the same belief; and Solinus introduced it into his fable “Polyhistor.” Though the error was corrected in the year 802, it was revived by Matthew Paris in the thirteenth century, who made a drawing of the elephant presented to King Henry III. by the King of France, in 1255. The animal was represented without joints.

Shakspeare was a victim to the popular belief, and says in “Troilus and Cressida,”—

“The elephant hath joints, but none for courtesy.
His legs are for necessity, not for flexure.”

Donne, in his “Progress of a Soul,” sang of nature’s great masterpiece, an elephant,—

“The only harmless great thing.
Yet nature hath given him no knee to bend.
Himself he up-props, on himself relies;
Still sleeping stands.”

I have previously referred to the fact that the mammoth was considered by the Chinese to be an underground, rat-like creature; and in many countries the bones of fossil elephants have been considered those of giants.

In the time of James II., Lord Cherbury was appointed by the king to investigate some bones which had been unearthed near Gloucester; and there was much discussion about them. Many considered them to be the remains of a giant, but scientific men proved them to be those of an elephant.

In the reign of Louis XIII., the scientific world was greatly excited over the remains of an alleged giant, which were dug up in Dauphiné; and so divided was public opinion, that the doctors took sides against one another, some claiming that they were the bones of the giant Tentobrochus. One doctor, named Mazurier, exhibited the remains in Paris, and stated in a pamphlet that they were found in a sepulchre thirty feet long, on the upper stone of which was written _Tentobrochus rex_, the name of the king of Cimbri, who fought against Marius.

In 1577 a gigantic skeleton of an elephant was unearthed in Lucerne; and Professor Felix Pläten of Basle made an examination, by order of the council, and concluded that it was the skeleton of a man nineteen feet in height. The natives of Lucerne were exceedingly proud of this. Goliath was only eleven feet tall; and the giant Gabbarus of Pliny, who lived in the time of Claudius, was about ten feet; but these were pygmies compared to this ancestor of the people of Lucerne, and they determined to commemorate his memory in a fitting manner, namely, in employing a representation to support the arms of the city. The design was made by Professor Pläten; and some of the original bones are still to be seen in the museum of the Jesuit college in Lucerne.

As late as 1645, the skeleton of an elephant found at Crems in Austria was considered a giant; though Dr. Behrens argued that such could not be the case, as “the tallest man we know of was Og of Basan, whose bed is said, in Deuteronomy, chap. iii., to have been eighteen feet long: now, allowing the bed to be but one foot longer than the man, he was seventeen feet high.”

Even in the last century, the doctors of Germany prescribed as an absorbent, astringent, and sudorific, the “Ebur fossile,” or “Unicornu fossile,” which was merely the tusk of an elephant.

In the present days, few believers in these old fables can be found: the stories of the milk and hoop snakes, the nautilus and its sails, and other pleasant fictions, seem to have superseded them.

Shakspeare judges this class perhaps not unfairly in “The Tempest,” when he says,—

“When they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they
will lay out ten to see a dead Indian.”

FOOTNOTES

[1] See Plate II. for a view of elephant moving timber.

[2] Mr. Sanderson’s long residence in India, and his great experience, naturally entitle him to be regarded as authority on the elephant, notwithstanding some authors do not agree with him on certain points.

[3] In Burmah this would be considered a white elephant.

[4] A rupee equals fifty cents.

[5] A rupee equals two shillings.

[6] See Plate XI.

[7] See Plate XII.

BIBLIOGRAPHY,

_Comprising a List of the Published Works relating to the Elephant._

NOTE.—We regret that the material composing this Bibliography has come to us in such an imperfect state, some of the titles being too largely abridged. It is hoped, however, that it may prove useful to some who are desirous to read more on this interesting subject; and, also, it may remain suggestive of more complete work in the future.

A.D.

=433.= The Mahawanso.

=1650.= Hist. des Eléphans. S. de Priezæ, Paris.

=1673.= Billing’s Voyages, p. 112.

=1682.= An Anatomical Account of the Elephant burnt at Dublin.
Allen Moulins.

=1692.= Noord en oost Tartagrye. Witsen, vol. ii.

=1707.= Dreyjärige Reise nack. E. Ysobrants Ides, China, etc.,
Frankfort.

=1710.= Anatomy and Osteology, Philos. Trans., vol. xxvii. P.
Blair.

=1715.= Elephantographia. Petrus ab Hartenfels.

=1715.= Remarques Anatomiques sur un Eléphant ouvert au St.
George. Suply.

=1718.= On the Organ of Hearing in the Elephant, Philos.
Trans., vol. xxx.

=1720.= Leben und Gewohnheiten der Ostiaken unter dem Polo
Artico wohnende. J. B. Müller, Berlin.

=1723-33.= Essays by Stukeley.

=1730.= Das nord und ostliche Theil von Europa und Asia.
Strahlenberg, Stockholm.

=1734.= Mémoires de l’Académie Royale des Sciences, tome iii.
part iii. C. Perrault.

=1734.= Locupletissimi rerum Nat. Thesauri, etc. (Fœtus of
Elephant). Amsterdam.

=1737.= The Behemoth, Philos. Trans.

=1737.= Handbook, Kluger’s. Philos. Trans., Breyne.

=1758.= Mémoires pour servir à l’Histoire Naturelle des
Animaux, vol. ii., Amsterdam.

=1764.= Buffon, Hist. Nat., Daubenton.

=1766.= Opuscoli di vario Argomento. Serrao, Naples.

=1774.= Kort Berigt van de Ontleding eens Jongen Elephants.
Camper.

=1780.= Timour’s Institute. Dr. White.

=1783.= Beschreibung und Abbildung eines neugebornen
Elephanten. Zimmermann.

=1798.= The Musical Capacity of the Elephant. In “Décade
Philosophique.” Paris.

=1799.= Wars and Sports of the Moguls, Philos. Trans.

=1799.= Observations on the Different Species of Asiatic
Elephants, and their Mode of Dentition. John Corse.

=1799.= Some Observations on the Structure of the Teeth of
Elephants, Philos. Trans., vol. xxxiv. Ev. Home.

=1802.= Descrip. Anat. d’un Eléph. (male). A. G. Camper.

=1803.= Hist. Nat. des deux Eléph., male et femelle, du Museum,
Paris. Houel.

=1806.= Shaw’s Zoölogy, London.

=1812.= De Skeleto Mammonteo Sibirico, Mém. de l’Acad. de St.
Pétersbourg. T. V. Tilesius.

=1823.= Indische Bibliothek. A. W. Schlegel.

=1834.= Recherches sur les Ossements Fossiles, Paris, 4th ed.
tome i. Cuvier et Lourillard.

=1839.= Anat. Comp, du Systeme du Nerv. Paris, Leuret et
Gratiolet.

=1839.= Die Übereste vorweltlicher Riesenthiere, etc., Berlin.

=1840-44.= Odontography. Owen.

=1841.= A Practical Treatise on the Diseases of the Elephant.
Gilchrist.

=1841.= Treatise on the Treatment of Elephants in Health and in
Disease. Slymm.

=1843.= Asiatic Journal.

=1843.= Hist. Mil. des Eléph. Revue des deux Mondes.

=1844.= The Elephant, Knight’s Series.

=1846-47.= Fauna anti qua Sivalonis. Falconer and Cautley.

=1847.= Reminiscences of Sport in India, Proceedings of Academy
of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. Burton.

=1847.= On the Anatomy of the Elephant. Robert Harrison.
Proceedings of the Irish Academy, vol. iii.-iv.

=1847.= Beitrage zur Anatomie des Elephanten und der übrigen
Pachydermen. C. Mayer.

=1852.= Description of the Skeleton of Mastodon giganteus. Dr.
J. C. Warren.

=1855.= Narrative of an Embassy to Ava. Capt. Yule.

=1856.= Vulpian and Phillippaux, Annal. Sci. Nat. Zoö., vol. v.

=1856.= Notes sur le cœur, le foie, et les poumons d’un
Eléphant (Femelle). Vulpian and Phillippaux.

=1856.= Ivory Teeth of Commerce. Owen in Journal of Society of
Arts.

=1857.= Description of Fœtal Membranes and Placenta of
Elephantus Indicus, etc. Owen.

=1859.= Reminiscences of Sport in India, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci.,
Phila. Burton.

=1859.= Sur la Dentition des Proboscidiens, etc. Lartel.
Bulletin de la Soc. Géologie de France, ser. ii. vol. xvi.

=1861.= Essays and Observations, Hunter edition, by Owen, vol.
ii.

=1862-67.= Animaux Fossiles et Géologie de l’Antique. A. Gaudry.

=1865.= Mammoth and Elephant. II. Falconer.

=1868.= Palæontological Memoirs. C. Murchison.

=1868.= The Hairy Mammoth, American Naturalist, vol. ii.

=1868.= Palæontological Memoirs, vol. ii. Falconer.

=1868.= Notes on the Myology of the Elephant, Edinburgh.

=1868.= On the Malayan Elephant. By Young Shikary. Oriental
Sporting Magazine, vol. i.

=1868.= Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates. Owen.

=1869.= Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science.

=1871.= Annals of Scientific Discovery, 1871, p. 239.

=1871-74.= Obs. in Human and Comparative Anatomy. Watson.
Journal of Anat. and Physiol.

=1873.= The Elephant. Lieut. Ouchterlony. An Essay, in The
Veterinarian.

=1873.= Highlands of Central India. Forsyth, in Veterinarian.

=1873.= Contributions to Extinct Vertebrate Fauna of the
Western Territories, U.S. Leidy.

=1874.= Ostéographie des Eléphans. De Blainville.

=1874-75.= Mammoth in Fiska Vet. Soc. Förhande. Witsen. 2d ed.

=1875.= On the Management of the Elephant, and Other Papers on
Similar Subjects. Col. Hawkes, in Veterinarian.

=1876.= Lectures on Comparative Anatomy of the Placenta,
Edinburgh. W. Turner.

=1878.= An article in The Medical Examiner, by J. II. Steel.

=1878.= Compendium der Helminthologie. Dr. Von Linston.

=1879.= Range of the Mammoth. Boyd Dawken’s Quarterly.

=1879.= Monograph of British Fossil Elephants, part ii. Lieut.
Adams.

=1880.= The Elephant in Freedom and in Captivity. Journal of
the United Service Institute of India, vol. ix., No. 44, July.

=1880.= Journal of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences.

=1880.= The Mammoth in Siberia, Geological Magazine. Howath.

=1880.= Proboscidea Sivalik und Nasbada, Mem. Geolog. Survey of
India. R. Lydecker.

=1881.= Phenocodus, American Naturalist, December, 1881.

=1882.= A Notable Elephant. Scientific American, April 15.

=1882.= Sanderson on Elephant Equipment. In G. O., 23d August,
1882, 4,503, Madras.

=1882.= Indian Pipes. Barber. (Supposed Prehistoric Elephant
Forms in Stone.)

=1882.= Field, naturalist column, April, 1882.

=1882.= Indian Commissariat, Code, 1882.

=1882.= Palæontographical Beitrage zur Nat. der Vorzeit.
Herausgegeben Dunker und Zittel.

=1884.= The Asiatic Elephant in Captivity, Scientific American,
May 24, 1884.

=1884.= Der Zoologische Garten. Frankfort, D. F. C. Noll.

=1885.= Elephant Pipes: Report of the Davenport Academy of
Sciences.

Royal Engineers’ and Royal Artillery Manuals for Field Service.

Government Indian Records.

Oriental Field Sports. Williamson.

Notes in Quarterly Journal of Veterinary Science in India.

Asiatic Researches, Journal of the Asiatic Society in Bengal,
Philos. Trans.

Wild Sports of India. Shakspeare.

Parasites. Cobbold.

Siam: Its Kingdom and People. Browning.

De Anim., lib. iv. 9. Aristotle.

Natural History. Pliny.

Cæsar, De Bello Gall.

Ancient World. Ansted.

Siam. Pallegoix.

Constitution of the An. Creation, etc. Holland.

Osteology of Man. Flower.

Archæological Album. Wright.

Rose’s Southern Africa.

Fossil Remains of Big Bone Lick. Cooper.

Ælian de Animalibus, lib. ii. chap. xi. Genser’s Translation.

Mastodon, Geological Transactions, vol. ii. 2d series.

Mémoires sur les Ossements Fossiles d’Eléphant trouvés en Belge.

South Africa. Chapman.

Okarunda River. Andersson.

Thirteen Years among Wild Beasts of India. Sanderson.

Zoölogy of South Africa. Andrew Smith. Tennent’s works.

Fossil Elephants and Archæology of Maltese Islands. A. S. Adams.

Principles of Geology. Lyell.

Cassell’s Natural History, vol. ii.

Dental Anatomy. C. S. Tomes.

Natural History of America. Hill.

Wolf’s Life and Adventures.

Denman’s Travels.

Vulgar Errors, book iii. chap. i.

India, and Tiger Hunting. Barras.

American Naturalist, vol. v. pp. 606, 607.

Natural History of New York, vol. iv.

A Second Visit to United States. Lyell. Vol. i. p. 349.

Rambles in Mexico. Latrobe. Vol. i. p. 145.

American Antiquities. Bradford. Page 276.

Prehistoric Races of U. S. Foster. Page 370.

Mexico and Yucatan. De Waldeck.

Amán. Epist., lib. i. cap. 25.

Pausanias, lib. —, cap. 25.

The Nature of Animals. Ælian.

Le Brun’s Voyage to Ceylon.

Zoölogical Recreations. Broderip.

Note-Book of a Naturalist. Broderip.

Calcutta. Sterndale.

South Africa. Baldwin.

Large and Small Game of Bengal. J. H. Baldwin.

Elephant Haunts. Falconer.

Sport in British Burmah. Pollock.

Lions and Elephants. Andersson.

Ceylon. Campbell.

Epoch of the Mammoth. Southall.

The Placenta and Generative Apparatus of the Elephant,
Proceedings of Phil. Acad, of Nat. Sciences, 2d series, vol.
viii., illustrated.

Ossements Fossiles. Cuvier.

British Fossil Mammals. Owen.

The Mammoth, Voyage of the Vega Nordenskiöld.

Ceylon. Sir Emerson Tennent.

Oriental Memoirs. Forbes.

Les Six Voyages de J. B. Tavernier.

Râmâyana. Carey and Marsham.

Asiatic Journal. G. Fairchild.

Sketches of South Africa. Pringle.

Difference between the Human and Elephant’s Tympanum. Sir
Everard Home.

Discoveries in Africa. Le Vaillant.

Bosman’s Guinea.

Asiatic Transactions, vol. 3.

Asiatic Resources. Welford.

Natural History of the Human Species. Smith.

Natural History of the Elephant. Rennie.

Cuvier. Sur les Révolutions de la Surface du Globe.

War Sports. Rankins.

Oration of Demosthenes against Ophobus.

Indian Field Sports. Johnson. Chap. ix.

Dampier’s Voyages, vol. ii. p. 68.

Narrative of the Burmese War, p. 170.

Twelve Years’ Hunting Adventures. Williamson.

China Illustrated. Kircher. Chap. iv.

Embassy to the Coast of Ava. Crawford.

Travels by Albert de Mandelsloes.

Comparative Anatomy. Home.

Histoire de l’art. Winkleman.

Vegetius, lib. iii. c. 24.

Catalogue of Hunterian Museum, Royal College Surgeons, London.

Holzassffel. Turning, and Mechanical Manipulation.

South Kensington Handbook on Ivories.

Marco Polo. Col. Yule.

First Footsteps in Eastern Africa. Burton.

Layard’s Nineveh and its Remains.

Ilios. Schliemann.

Oriental Memoirs. Forbes.

Les Eléphants à la Guerre, Revue des deux Mondes, 1874.

Mémoires pour servir à l’Histoire Naturelle des Animaux, tome
ii. p. 503.

Physical Curiosæ, p. 1024.

The Large Game of South Africa. Drummond.

Twenty-first Annual Report of State of New York Museum of
Natural History. Hall.

Memoirs of Baber. Blumenbach. Lawrence and Coulson’s
translation.

Leçons d’Anatomie comparée, tome v.

Every-day Book. Home. Vol. ii. p. 322.

Hindostan. Dow.

Narrative of the Burmese War, p. 170.

Tennent’s Indian Recreations.

Shipp’s Memoirs.

Bell’s Travels.

Struy’s Travels.

Mill’s British India, book vi. chap. iv.

Abhandlungen der geologischen Reichsanstalt, vol. ii.

Mammifères Tertiaries. Gaudry. Mélanges Biologiques, tome v.,
St. Petersburg, pp. 645, 740.

The Kilima Njaro Expedition. H. H. Johnson, Scribner and
Welford.

Autopsy of an Elephant. A. J. Howe, M.D. Scientific American
supplement, No. 186.

Birth of an Elephant (illustrated). G. E. Lussendorff, M.D.
Scientific American supplement, No. 343.

Composition of Elephant’s Milk. Doremus. Scientific American
supplement, No. 288 (illustrated).

Nita Karoli. Eginhard.

Survey of Bhagulpore. Buchanan.

Historical Relation of Ceylon. Knox.

Hunter’s Life in Africa. Gordon Cumming.

Elephant Shooting in Ceylon. Major Macready.

The Rifle and the Hound in Ceylon. Baker.

Indian Sporting Review.

The Hastisilpe: A Singhalese Work on the Elephant.

Expositio de Eléphante. Phile.

Histoire Militaire des Eléphans. Armandi.

Naturalist’s Library, vol. ix., Pachyderms. Sir William Jardine.

Coup-d’œil général sur les Possessions Néerlandaises dans
l’Inde Archipélagique. Temminck.

Travels in Mogul Empire. Bernier.

Works of Travel by Pringle, Knox, Shipp, Marco Polo.

Anatomy of the Indian Elephant. Miall and Greenwood. 1878.

Desc. Anatom, d’un Eléphant, Mâle. Camper.

Gori. Industrial Arts.

Bishop Hakewill’s Apology.

The following are from catalogue of Dr. A. E. Foote, of
Philadelphia, Penn.:—

No. 37130. Elephas Texicanus. Blake.

No. 37140. Fossil Bones of Mastodon and Elephant, from Benton
County, Mo. Dr. Chaloner.

No. 37150. Great American Mastodon.

No. 37160. Entire Head and Other Bones of Mastodon. Homer and
Hays.

No. 37210. Fossil Elephant’s Teeth of North America, and
Mastodon Remains in Ohio. Kilpart.

No. 37220. Discovery of the Great American Mammoth, and its
Anatomical Character. J. Ware.

No. 37560. Geological Position of Remains of Elephant and
Mastodon in North America.

No. 37630. Big Bone Lick and its Fossil Remains. W. Cooper.

No. 37820. Mammoth from New Jersey. T. P. Stewart.

No. 37820. Fossil Remains of Mastodon, Ontario County, N.Y.

No. 37820. Fossil Tooth of Elephant from Lake Erie shore, and
Mastodon from Delaware and Hudson Canal.

No. 31860. Extinct Elephant and Other Animal Remains, Waterford
County, Ireland. E. Brenan.

No. 42790. Memoir upon Living and Fossil Elephants. Cuvier.

INDEX.

Abyssinian elephant, 176.
tusks of, 176.

Actium, 239.

Adams Peak, 24.

Adelphi Theatre, 187.

Adis, battle of, 295.

Ælian, 193, 295.
refers to a white elephant, 117.

Age of elephants, 22.

Aggageers, 172-176.

Agra, 245.
amphitheatre at, 245.
Prince of Wales at, 253.

Agrippina, 233.

Air-cells of elephant’s skull, 6.

Akbar, the emperor, elephants of, 268.
as an elephant-rider, 209.

Albert, Barnum’s rogue elephant, 151.

Albinism of elephants, 124.

Albino, test of, 132.

Alexander the Great, elephant medal of, 287.
passing the Indus, 284.
war elephants of, 277.

Alexander Severus, famous battle with three hundred elephants, 308.

American showman, 66.

Anarájapoora, Temple of the Tooth at, 117.

Ánay, elephant-hunting cry, 110, 154.

Antiochus, King of Syria, 233, 290.

Ants, 27.

Anytus, 232.

Apennines, elephants marching over, 301.

Aphis, 27.

Apis of Buddha, 119, 131.

Appian, his account of war with elephants, 303.

Arcot, Nabob of, 265.

Argos, 294.

Aristotle, on elephants’ joints, 313.

Amoræus, King, elephants of, 277.

Arno, elephants passing the, 301.

Artaxerxes, elephant battle of, 308.

Arnold, Edward, 125.

Asdrubal, commander of Carthaginian forces, 303.
war elephants of, 303.

Asiatic Society, Journal of, ways of elephants, 13.

Antiochus, 291.

Aurelian, triumph of, 253.

Aurengzebe, in battle with elephants, 266.

Ava, king of, 130.
elephants of, 21, 130.

Baby elephant, 179.

Baber, Emperor, on height of elephants, 21.

Baker, Sir Samuel, 5, 25, 98, 174.

Baines, Sir Thomas, 223, 311.

Baldwin, elephant-hunter, 164.

Barnum, Phineas T., 7, 66, 68, 148.
white elephant, 123.

Barrackpoor, 18, 207.

Beard, J. C., 181.

Behrens, Dr., 315.

Bengal elephant-catching establishment, 92.

Berrien, Capt., U.S.N., 213.

Bheemruttee, a famous elephant, 22.

Bishop Heber on motion of elephants, 207.

Bock, Carl, author, 132.

Book of Maccabees, armor of elephants, 276.

Bo-trees, a sacred tree, eaten by elephants, 144.
favorite food of elephants, 12.

Bowring, Sir John, 119, 126, 133.

Brain of the elephant, 29.

Bridgeport, baby elephant, 10.
city of, 204.

Brooke, Sir Victor, 109, 115.

Browne, Sir Thomas, 312.

Buddha, mythology of, 118, 120.

Buddhists, Apis of, the white elephant, so called, 119.

Burmah, white elephant of, 309.

Cæsar, Julius, account of fighting by elephants, 307.

Caffre beaten to death by a rogue elephant, 160.

Cambodia, King of, large elephant-owner, 124.

Cannæ, battle of, with elephants, 301.

Cananore, extraordinary strength of elephants at, 209.

Capua, 303.

Carthaginians fighting with elephants, 295, 303.

Ceylon elephant, 12, 25, 137, 138, 310.

Chandnee-Doon, rogue near, 159.

Chardin, author, 122.

Charges by elephants, 85, 102.

Charlotte, N.C., rogue elephant at, 150.

Chicago Medical College, skeleton of a large elephant in, 311.

Chief, a famous elephant, 150.

China, use of mammoths’ tusks in, 309.

Chittagong, elephant forest, 92.

Chundasaheb, Indian nabob, 265.

Chuni, a famous elephant, 193.

Commissariat Department of Madras, sales of elephants at, 86.

Conqueror, a notable elephant, 5.

Coorg, baby elephant from, 22.

Cooroowe vidahm, head stableman for elephants, 146.

Cornwallis, Marquis, 20.

Coromandel, use of elephants in war of, 210, 265.

Corral, elephant, 137, 144.

Corse, elephant hunter, 2, 11, 20.

Cranes on elephant’s back, 192.

Crawford, author, on elephants, 118, 130, 208.

Crems, skeleton of elephant in, 315.

Cripps, elephant hunter, 24, 146.

Cross, H. H., author, on elephants, 29.

Ctesias, earliest writer on elephants in war, 277, 279.

Cumming, elephant hunter, 5.

Cuvier, 6.

Curius Dentalus, wars of, 294.

Czar Peter, 21.

Dacca, Nabob of, 20.
in Bengal, elephant establishment, 204.

Dah! dah! a cry used to disconcert wild elephants, 143.

Dalton, Dr. J. C., opinion on intelligence of the elephant, 29.

Daman, the siege of, 268.

Dauphiné, in France, 314.

Dara, potentate who fought with elephants, 266.

Dehra Rájah, native chief, 163.

Delhi, battle of, 271.
war elephants of, 271.

Department, Commissariat, Madras, 86.

Department, the Forest, 88.

Demetrius, in battle with elephants, 289.

Denman, Major, an African traveller, 310.

Didius Julianus, in battle with elephants, 308.

Devonshire, Duke of, owner of a well-trained elephant, 190.

Deuteronomy, Og of Basan, 315.

Dimensions of elephant’s skeleton, 311.

D’Obsonville, M., observations by, 202.

Dom Pedro, a Philadelphia elephant, named for the emperor, 149.

Doon, rogue elephant in the, 158.

Dow, an author, describes elephants with swords lashed upon their
trunks, 269.

Driver, called mahout, 96.

Drummond, author, 13, 29.

Dufferin, Lord, presented with a “living paper-cutter,” 203.

Duke of Edinburgh, owner of elephant Tom, 150.

Dunlop, Capt., British army, refers to rogue elephant Gunesh, 158.

Dutch stables at Molura, an old elephant found there, 147.

Dwásala, a caste of elephants, 94.

East India Company, 20.

East Indian elephant-traders, 91.

Elephant, Asiatic, how captured, 77.
Asiatic, in captivity, 91.
Asiatic, various breeds of, 93.
Asiatic, fodder of, 95.
Asiatic, Barnum’s, harnessed, 204.
Asiatic, on ancient medals, 233.
Asiatic, food of, 12.
as a swimmer, 18.
battery, 255.
catchers, 12.
Ceylon, 137.
Ceylon, number exported, 138.
characteristic voices of, 139.
Duke of Devonshire’s, 190.
dwarf, 9.
famous:—
“Albert,” 151.
“Alice,” 75.
“Bridgeport,” 10.
“Chief,” 150.
“Conqueror,” 5.
“Dom Pedro,” 149.
“Emperor,” 150.
“Hebe,” 179.
“Jumbo,” 60-76;
his death, 74;
skeleton of, 312.
“Romeo,” 151.
“Tom,” 150.
female, 10.
gait of, 207.
hunt, by Sir Victor Brooke, 109.
hunt, close quarters, 112.
hunters, daring of Arab, 174.
in captivity, 91-96.
in pageantry, 249.
in the amphitheatre, 241.
in the arts, 231.
in Egyptian art, 177.
in the circus, 189.
intelligence of, 28.
ivory of the, 217.
Meerga caste, 139.
methods of communicating with, 139.
owned by Louis XIV., 17.
paper-cutter, 203.
parades, 252.
riding, Bishop Heber’s account of, 207.
rogue, a famous, 157.
rogue, _Gunesh_, 158.
rogue, a dangerous, 160.
rogue, mischievous, 161.
Sanderson’s adventure with a rogue, 156.
tusks, as trophies, 115.
tusks, largest Asiatic, 115.
weight of, at birth, 10.
white, 117.
white, Vincent on, 119.
white, worshipped, 120.
white, Kircher on, 122.
white, Mr. Barnum’s, 123, 133.
white, nature of, 124.
white, order of, 125.
white, rare creatures, 127.
white, number captured, 127.
white, ceremonies attending the capture of, 127.
white, ceremonies at the death of, 128.
white, attentions bestowed on, 129.
white, Zachard saw, 130.
white, of Siam, 130.
white, of Ava, 130.
white, “The Lord of the,” 130.
white, young, 131.
white, of Bangkok, by Vincent, 131.
white, Theebaw’s, 131.
white, points of perfection of, 132.
white, Toung Taloung, 132.
white, hunters of, 134.
white, bill of sale of Barnum’s, 134.
white, “The Light of Asia,” 136.

Elephants and their friends, 192.
at work, 201.
Asiatic, hunting, 97.
as saddle-beasts, 206.
as battering-rams, 202.
as executioners, 199.
as nurses, 202.
a team of, 209.
armor of, in the Mogul Empire, 268.
Ceylon, age of, 146.
Ceylon, 140 years old, 147.
curiosity of, 143, 161.
damage to crops by, 156.
expense of, 97.
expense of keeping, 96.
extraordinary strength of, 209.
fictions about, 309.
fishing by, 210.
flesh esteemed, 176.
gestation of, 10.
great caution of, 264.
habits and ways of, 12.
harnessed, 205.
hauling ships, 209.
hauling timber, 204.
herds of, captured in Ceylon, 144.
howdahs for, 207.
hunting African, 164.
hunting, account by Selous, 164.
hunting, account by Livingstone, 168.
hunting, narrow escapes, 170.
hunting, with swords, 172.
hunting, weapons used in, 99.
hunting, by Sanderson, 103.
in battles, 290, 291, 293, 297, 299, 301.
large ones shot, 105.
measurement of, 19, 115, 311.
memory of, 162.
methods of mounting, 208.
_must_, or mad, 151.
natural history of, 1.
obedience of, 31.
of Julius Cæsar, 307.
of Scipio, 306.
of Artaxerxes, 308.
of Alexander, 308.
of Kublai Khan, 274.
“playing possum,” 31.
ploughing, 204.
present of, to the President of the United States, by King of Siam,
211.
revenge of, 31.
riding, their speed, 207.
rogue, 148.
rogue, persons killed by, 149.
rogue, temporary, 162.
Shakspeare on, 313, 315.
shooting, 99.
skeletons of, 5, 311, 314.
so-called _solitaries_, 152.
stories of, by Pliny, 309.
stories of, by Ælian, 309.
teeth of, 3, 311.
training of, 145.
types of, 14, 139.
value of, 94.
war, of modern Asia, 255, 265.
war, of Alexander the Great, 277.

Elephants war, of the Romans, 296.
wild, the attack by, 98.

Elephas Africanus, African elephant, 1.

Elephas Americana, a tooth of, 310.

Elephas Indicus, Indian or Asiatic elephant, 1.

Elephanta, Island of, 231.

Elephantarch, governor of elephants, 289.

Fictions, proboscidian, 309.

Gejjhemp, a portion of an elephant battle-armor, 269.

“Geraldine,” a famous elephant, 19.

“Goliath,” 314.

Grand Khan, elephant hunt of the, 200.

Grote, F., & Co., 219.

“Gunesh,” a rogue elephant, 158.

Hamilton, Col. Douglass, 109, 112.

Hamran Arabs, skilled elephant fighters, 171.

Hannibal’s elephant in Spain, 296.
elephants crossing the Po, 301.

Hannibal, passage of his war elephants over the Pyrenees, 297.
war elephants of, 297, 308.
his elephants in Africa, 304.

Hardy, Col., 161.

Hartenfels, author, on elephant, 4.

Height of elephants, fictions about, 310.

Heraclear, 293.

Herald, New York, on “Jumbo,” 65, 117.

Hindostan, the crown of, 268.

Holland, white elephant in, 132.

Home, Sir Everard, 17.

“Hora,” or “ronkedor,” native name for a rogue elephant, 159.

Howdah, saddle of an elephant, 205.

Hutchinson, J. H., notable elephant owner, 134.

Indian elephant, 2, 6.

Instinct of elephants, 28.

Intelligence of elephants, 27.

Ivory, 217.
bangles of, 221.
colossal statue in, 239.
College of Physicians and Surgeons, London, 229.
doors of the Palatium in, 239.
dust of, 222.
F. Grote & Co., vaults of, 219.
hunters of, 226.
importation of, 220.
in the arts, 236.
in Hotel Cluny, 235.
in Ptolemy’s ship, 238.
Juno of Argos in, 237.
Leo X., his taste in, 218.
mammoth tusks, 226.
Minerva in gold and, 238.
Odontological Society, London, 229.
Phidias’ statue in, 237.
plaques in South Kensington, 235.
Roman tablets of, 218.
schroons, or wrappers, of, 221.
statue of Alexander in, 238.
Westendorp & Co., vaults of, 219.

Jinjalls, a small cannon, 99.

Juggernaut, elephant in ceremonies of, 251.

Julius Cæsar, war elephants of, 307.

“Jumbo,” 66-76.

Kábul, merchants of, 94.

Kandy, Temple of, 120.

Kaslegar, King of, battles, 275.

King of Cambodia, 124.

King of Siam, 124.

Kircher, author, on elephant, 122.

Knight, Charles, & Co., Preface.

Koomeriah, best breed of elephant, 93.

Kreiger Karol, hunter and author, 171.

Kublai Khan, 209.
elephants of, 274.

Kurrabas, native attendants, 105.

Lahore, 270.

“Leveller of the Earth,” name of white elephant, 129.

“Light of Asia,” a white elephant, 136.

Lincoln, Abraham, offered elephants, 215.

Livingstone, 168.

Livy describes battles with elephants, 297.

“Lord of the White Elephant,” 130.

Louis XIV., owner of an elephant, 17.

Lucanian oxen, elephants so called, 294.

Lucerne, gigantic skeleton in, 314.

Maccabees, Book of, on elephant armor, 276.

Macedon, elephants of, 299.

Macedonian army, elephant battalion of, 284, 306.

Machlis, 313.

Magnesia, battle of, with elephants, 306.

“Mahaw Anso,” a treatise on the elephant, 117.

Mahmood, elephant of, 117, 122.

Mahout, name of an elephant driver, 202.

Mammoth, a complete, 227.
tusks, 226.
tusks analyzed, 226.

Manaar, important elephant depot, 144.

Mandalay, Theebaw’s capital, 131.

Mandla, a rogue elephant, 153.

Marco Polo, on elephants in battle, 272.

Mastodon giganteus, 312.

Mastodon, 312.

Meerga, a breed of elephants, 94.

Metaurus, battle of, with elephants, 303.

Metellus captures war elephants, 296.

Milton, poem on elephant in pageantry, 241.

Mogul Empire, elephant armor in, 268.

Morlay, important depot of elephant, 153.

Must, madness of elephants, 151.

Mysore, elephant-catching establishment at, 12.

Mysore, elephant locality, 12.

Negaha, food of elephants, 12.

Nordenskiöld, 227.

Oriental field sports, 2.

Oswold, Mr., African elephant-hunter, 170.

Oxen, Lucanian, 294.

Oxford Museum, fine tusk at, 226.

Pageantry, 249.

Pakher, an elephant’s armor, 269.

Panickeas, remarkable elephant-fighter, 143.

Perdiccas, elephants crossing Nile, 301.
elephants of, 288.

Phidias, his statues of ivory, 236-238.

Pickaninny, trick-elephant, 186.

Pipes, carved elephant, 239.

Plato on the elephant, 238.

Pliny on the elephant, 123, 188, 218.

Plutarch, 238.

Polybius describes the battle of Raphia, 290.

Porus, King, his large force of elephants, 284.

Proboscidian fictions, 309.

Proboscis, use of, 6.

Ptolemy, his elephants at Gaza, 289.

Purchas, author, 194.

Putnam, C. E., 239.

Pydua, siege of, and elephants at, 288.

Pyrrhus, King, his elephants of war, 293.

Quabeet, Selous’s servant, 167.

Raphia, battle of, 290.

Riding-elephants, 207.

Rogue elephant, a mad one, 148.

Rose, Mr. Cowper, elephant hunter, 8.

Royal Zoölogical Gardens, England, 68.

Sanderson, G. P., author and hunter, 2, 22, 23, 25, 77, 80, 93.

Scipio, elephants of, 304.

Selous, elephant hunter and author, 14, 164.

Semiramis, queen, her wooden elephants, 277.

Shakspeare, on elephant’s joints, 313.

Shakspeare, fictions in, 315.

Siam, King of, 211.

Soopyalot, queen of Theebaw, 131.

Solitary elephants, 152, 154.

Stabrobates, an Indian king, 282.

Statue, ivory, 238.

St. Petersburg Museum, mammoth at, 311.

South Kensington Museum, 235.

Sultan Mamood, his magnificent armament of elephants, 270.

Syria, elephants used in, 292.

Tablets, ivory, 218.

Tachard, Father, elephant-fight seen by, 245.

Toung Taloung, Barnum’s white elephant, 132.

Tennent, Sir Emerson, author, 145, 160.

Temple of Tooth, 117.

Theebaw, Indian potentate, 124.
his white elephant, 125.

Tiger-hunt, 198.

Tight-rope, 188.

Timour, his victory over elephants, 270.
his elephant-team, 209.

Tom Thumb, trick-elephant, 186.

Totans & Schmidt, great tusk at, 230.

Tower of London, elephants at, 188.

Training elephants, 145.

Trebia, battle of, 301.

Trick-elephants, 184.

Tuskless elephants, 138.

Tusks, bullets in, 228.
elephants with nine, 223.
huge, 223.
javelin in, 229.
spiral, 223.

Vices of elephants, 148.

Victoria, Queen, 125, 126.
Order of white elephant conferred on, 125.

Volk, Charles, elephant-hunter, 170.

War elephants, 255.

Ward, Professor, 65, 74.

Westendorp & Co., 219.

White elephant, 117, 136.

Xantippus, elephant batteries of, 295.