ing their heaviest foes upon them, hurl them to the ground, or
transfix them so as never to rise again. The ears are large, and hang
flapping over the shoulders, and are very sensible to the touch; the
hearing seems to be much more alive to grave than to acute sounds.

Four ungraceful, stiff columns, for legs, support the clumsy body. On
each fore foot there are five toes, and on each hind foot four; each toe
should shew a hoof, but sometimes the skin envelops and conceals them.
The sole is nearly round; and the skin of a foot exhibited by Mr. Gordon
Cumming, is so large, that a child of three years of age could easily
seat itself within it. The tail is small in circumference, flattened at
the end, and has thick, stiff bristles at the extremity. These tails are
sometimes used as whips, and at the court of Ashanti, when decorated
with gold; they form part of the insignia of the Court. The skin is
generally dark-coloured, and rough, having a few scattered hairs upon
it; proofs, however, have been found, that a race of elephants thickly
covered with hair, once existed. White elephants are occasionally met
with, and it has been asserted, that they are worshiped. Others have
contradicted this, and declare, that they are only kept as a piece of
royal state.

The usual height of elephants is from nine to ten feet; but many have
been known to attain fourteen; the skeleton of that sent to the Czar
Peter, by the king of Persia, and which is seen in the museum at St.
Petersburgh, is sixteen and a half, and there are records of elephants
attaining the enormous height of twenty feet. When we think of the
mountainous animal, as I have described the elephant to be, it seems
inconsistent to say, that he is swift in his paces: in truth, he is not;
a heavy trot being the fastest movement which he can accomplish. His
enormous stride, however, gives him the advantage over lighter animals;
and we have heard of a fast-galloping horse finding it difficult to
escape from an elephant, even when urged to his utmost speed. The gait
is most fatiguing and uncomfortable to those who ride him for the first
few times, because he moves the two feet on the same side at once; and
the larger the elephant, the more uncomfortable the movement. Bishop
Heber, however, seems to have formed an exception in this respect, for
he says, it was far from being disagreeable, and appeared to him to
resemble being carried on men's shoulders. It is supposed that the neck