habit as he witnessed it near Dacca:—­“A sound struck my ear, as if from the water itself on which we were riding, the most solemn and singular I can conceive.  It was long, loud, deep, and tremulous, somewhat between the bellowing of a bull and the blowing of a whale, or perhaps most like those roaring buoys which are placed at the mouths of some English harbours, in which the winds make a noise to warn ships off them.  ‘Oh,’ said Abdallah, ’there are Elephants bathing:  Dacca much place for Elephant.’  I looked immediately, and saw about twenty of these fine animals, with their heads and trunks just appearing above the water.  Their bellowing it was which I had heard, and which the water conveyed to us with a finer effect than if we had been on shore.”  The Elephant can also eject from his trunk water and dust, and his own saliva, over every part of his body, to cool its heated surface; and he is said to grub up dust, and blow it over his back and sides, to keep off the flies.

There are two Elephants in the Zoological Gardens.  Both are of the Asiatic species.  The larger animal was purchased by the Society about fifteen months since.  It is probably about eleven years old, and is still growing; and a register of its bulk at various periods has been commenced.  The smaller Elephant was presented to the Society by Sir Edward Barnes, late governor of Ceylon.  It has been stated to be a dwarf variety, and that its age is not far short of that of the larger individual; but this assertion is questionable.  It is much more consistent with our knowledge of the species to regard it, in the absence of all previous knowledge of the history of the individual, as a young one not exceeding four years old.  This specimen will be seen in the distance of the Engraving.[1]

    [1] The new-born Elephant is about three feet long.  Between
    fifteen and twenty years of age, Elephants may be said to be
    adult.  In India it is thought that they live three centuries.

The natural history of the Elephant would occupy many pages.  A few points, however, are peculiarly interesting in connexion with the individuals from India, in the Zoological Gardens.  The Indian Elephant appears, when fully grown, to attain a larger size than the African, the females commonly measuring from seven to eight, and the males from eight to ten, feet in height; though we find in old accounts the height of the Asiatic Elephant stated at fifteen or sixteen feet.  The head of the Indian is more oblong than that of the African Elephant; and the forehead of the former has a deep concavity, while the head of the African is round and convex in all its parts.  The teeth of the Indian species consist of narrow transverse bands of equal size, while those of the African are larger in the middle than at the ends, and are lozenge shaped.  The ears of the Asiatic are smaller, and descend only to his neck, while in the African species the ears cover the shoulders.  The former has four distinct toes, and the latter but three, on his hind feet.  The Elephants of Ceylon are much prized for size, beauty, and hardihood.  If the small Elephant in the Gardens be a native of Ceylon, it is by no means a beautiful specimen of the variety.