ELEPHANT (A/Oas) occurs only in 1 Maccab. vi. 34, etc. Bochart imagined ti+.2Mt;) shenhab Bim to be a contraction of vzrip-pi shenkahabbint, because alikhaban is one of the Arabic names of the elephant ; and thence inferred that schin denoting tooth, the remaining part of the word, habbinz or habbehim, was in Hebrew, like khaban in Arabic, to be referred to elephant. However this may be, all the nations of the south and west of Asia have for many ages generally used the word fir, feel, pheel, phil, for we find it in the Chaldee, Syriac, Persian, Arabic, and Turkish, extending to the east far beyond the Ganges, where, never. theless, in the indigenous tongues and, waranam, and hatti are existing names.
The animals of this genus consist at present of two very distinct species, one a native of Southern Asia, once spread considerably to the westward of the 'Upper Indus, and the other occupying southern and middle Africa to the edge of the great Sahara. In a fossil state there are, besides, six more species clearly distinguished. The ele phant is the largest of all terrestrial animals, sometimes reaching to above eleven feet of ver tical height at the shoulders, and weighing from five to seven thousand pounds : he is of a black or slaty-ash colour, and almost destitute of hair. The head, which is proportionably large, is pro vided with two broad pendulous ears, particularly in those of the African species, which are occa sionally six feet in length. This species has also two molar teeth on each side of the jaw, both above and below, and only three toe-nails on each of the hind feet ; whereas the Asiatic species is provided with only one tooth on each side above and below ; and though both have tusks or defences, the last mentioned has them confined solely to the males; they are never of more than seventy pounds weight, often much less, and in some breeds even totally wanting; while in the African both sexes are armed with tusks, and in the males they have been known seven feet in length, and weighing above 15o pounds each. The forehead of the African is low ; that of the Asiatic high; in both the eyes are comparatively small, with a malevolent expression, and on the temples are pores which exude a viscous humour ; the tail is long, hanging nearly to the heels, and distichous at the end. But the most remarkable organ of the elephant, that which equally enables the animal to reach the ground and to grasp branches of trees at a con siderable height, is the proboscis or trunk ; a cylindrical elastic instrument, in ordinary condition reaching nearly down to the ground, but contrac tile to two-thirds of its usual length, and extensile to one-third beyond it ; provided with nearly 4000 muscles crossing each other in such a manner that the proboscis is flexible in every direction, and so abundantly supplied with nerves as to render the organ one of the most delicate in nature. Within is
the double canal of the nostrils, and at the terminal opening a finger-like process, with which the animal can take up very minute objects and grasp others, even to a writing-pen, and mark paper with it. By means of the proboscis, the elephant has a power of suction capable of raising nearly zoo pounds weight ; and with this instrument he gathers food from trees and from the earth, draws up drink to squirt it down his throat, draws corks, unties small knots, and performs numberless other minute operations; and, if necessary, tears down branches of trees more than five inches in diameter with no less dexterity than strength. 'The gait of an elephant is an enormous stride, performed with his high and ponderous legs, and sufficiently rapid to require smart galloping on horseback to outstrip him.
Elephants are peaceable towards all inoffensive animals; sociable among themselves, and ready to help each other; gregarious in grassy plains; but more inclined to frequent densely-wooded moun taro glens : at times not unwilling to visit the more arid wastes, but fond of rivers and pools, where they wallow in mud and water among reeds and under the shade of trees. They are most assuredly more sagacious than observers, who, from a few visits to menageries, compare them with dogs, are able to appreciate ; for on this question we must take into account, on the one hand, the physical advantages of the proboscis added to the individual experience gained by an animal slow in growth, and of a longevity exceeding a century ; but still placed in contact with man after a birth free in every sense, where his powers expand without human education ; while on the other hand dogs are the offspring of an immense number of genera tions, all fashioned to the will of a master, and consequently with innate dispositions to acquire a certain education. In Griffith's Cooler are found several anecdotes, some of them from the personal observations of the present writer ; and referring to them, we shall add only a single one here, related by the late Captain Hobson, R N., as observed by himself at Travancore, where several of these animals were employed in stacking teak timber balk. They had scarcely any human aid or direc tion, but each beam being successively noosed and slung, they dragged it to the stack, raised one end up, contrived to shove it forward, nicely watching when, being poised by its own weight, the lower end would rise, and then, placing their foreheads against the butt end, they pushed it even on the stack ; the sling they unfastened and carried back to have it fitted again ! In a wild state no other animal has the sagacity to break off a leafy branch, hold it as a fan, and use it as a brush to drive away flies.