ld races, so, also, he has made many tame races
wild. Had some of the larger carnivorous beasts, capable of scaling the
rocks, made their way into the North American mountains before our
hunters, a similar alteration in the instincts of the sheep would
doubtless have been brought about.

_Wild elephants domesticated in a few years._--No animal affords a more
striking illustration of the principal points which I have been
endeavouring to establish than the elephant; for, in the first place,
the wonderful sagacity with which he accommodates himself to the society
of man, and the new habits which he contracts, are not the result of
time, nor of modifications produced in the course of many generations.
These animals will breed in captivity, as is now ascertained, in
opposition to the vulgar opinion of many modern naturalists, and in
conformity to that of the ancients AElian and Columella[824]: yet it has
always been the custom, as the least expensive mode of obtaining them,
to capture wild individuals in the forests, usually when full grown;
and, in a few years after they are taken--sometimes, it is said, in the
space of a few months--their education is completed.

Had the whole species been domesticated from an early period in the
history of man, like the camel, their superior intelligence would,
doubtless, have been attributed to their long and familiar intercourse
with the lord of the creation; but we know that a few years is
sufficient to bring about this wonderful change of habits; and although
the same individual may continue to receive tuition for a century
afterwards, yet it makes no farther progress in the general development
of its faculties. Were it otherwise, indeed, the animal would soon
deserve more than the poet's epithet of "half-reasoning."

From the authority of our countrymen employed in the late Burmese war,
it appears, in corroboration of older accounts, that when elephants are
required to execute extraordinary tasks, they may be made to understand
that they will receive unusual rewards. Some favourite dainty is shown
to them, in the hope of acquiring which the work is done; and so
perfectly does the nature of the contract appear to be understood, that
the breach of it, on the part of the master, is often attended with
danger. In this case, a power has been given to the species to adapt
their social instincts to new circumstances with surprising rapidity;
but the extent of this change is defined by st