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ELEPHANT.

into successive arcs, of which the convexity is outwards, or transverse, and radiating from the internal to the external membrane. Cuvier states the number of muscles having the power of distinct action as not far short of 40,000. The trunk can be coiled around a tree, and employed to tear it from its roots; it is a formidable weapon of offence or

Various positions of the Elephant's Trunk : 1, female elephant suckling her young one; 2, the young one; 3, elephant reposing; 4, elephant swimming; 5, young elephant browsing.

defence, and is far more employed in this way than the tusks, even by those elephants which have tusks of great size; its extremity can be wound around a small handful of grass or a slender branch; it is even capable of plucking the smallest leaf, or of lifting a pin from the ground. To fit it for such actions as those last mentioned, and for many such as might be performed by a hand, it is furnished at the extremity with what may be likened to a finger and thumb; on the upper side, an elongated process-strong, soft, and flexible, like the rest of the trunk, and endowed with the most delicate sense of touch-on the under side, a kind of tubercle against which this process may be pressed. All the food of the E. is gathered and conveyed to the mouth by the trunk: by means of the trunk, also, it drinks,

many ways for their comfort or enjoyment, ar in throwing dust over their backs, or in fanning them. selves and switching away flies with a leafy branch, two practices to which they are greatly addicted. Their mutual caresses are also managed by means of the trunk, and through it they make a loud shrill sound, indicative of rage, which is described by Aristotle as resembling the hoarse sound of a trumpet, and from which this organ received its French name trompe, corrupted in English into trunk. With the trunk also, they sometimes, when angry, beat violently on the ground.

The sense of smell is very acute in the E., as is also that of hearing. The ears are large and pond alous, the cyce are small.

Elephants have no canine teeth, or have they any incisors in the lower jaw. The upper jaw is furnished with two incisors, which assume the peculiar character of tusks, and attain an enormous size, a single tusk sometimes weighing 150 or even 300 lbs. The tusks are, however, often imperfectly developed, ten or twelve inches in length, and one or two in diameter. These stunted tusks are often used for such purposes as snapping off small branches and tearing climbing plants from trees. Those elephants which possess great tusks employ them also for such other uses as loosening the roots of trees which they cannot otherwise tear for such labours as moving great stones, and piling from the ground; or in a state of domestication, or carrying timber. A powerful E. will raise and carry on his tusks a log of half a ton weight or more. The tusks of the E. surpass in size all other teeth of existing animals, and are the largest of all teeth in proportion to the size of the body. They consist chiefly of that variety of dentine called IVORY (q. v.), and continue to grow-like the incisors of the rodents, to which they are in some respects analogous-even when the animal has

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1, elephant drinking; 2, elephant gathering long herbage; 3, elephant spouting water over its back.

ucking up into it a quantity of water sufficient to fill it, and then discharging the contents into the mouth. Valves at the base of the trunk prevent the water from going too far up the nostrils. The trunk is constantly employed by elephants in providing in

A, skull of Indian elephant; B, skull of African elephant; C, D, upper and lower molar teeth of Indian elephant; E, F, upper and lower molar teeth of African elephant: G. the original state of the grinders when the lamina of which they consist are as yet unconnected together; II. the lamina as they are attached in parallels one to the other by cortical substance.

attained a great age, if not to the very end of its life. The young E. is at first furnished with deciduous incisors, which are shed between the first and second year, and are succeeded by the permanent tusks.-The molar teeth of the E. are developed in succession; and at least in the Indian E., never more than two are to be seen in the same side of a jaw at one time. The first molars cut the gum in about two weeks after birth, and are shed about the end of its second year. The sixth molara

ELEPHANT.

which are also believed to be the last, are supposed to appear about the fiftieth year of the E.'s life. The molar teeth of the E. are remarkable for their great size, and for the extreme complexity of their structure, to which the nearest resemblance is found in some of the small rodents. They are composed of vertical plates of bony substance, separately enveloped with enamel, and cemented together by a third substance, called crusta petrosa, cortical, or cement, more resembling bone than enamel. Each succeeding tooth is not only more complex, but occupies a greater space in the jaw than its predecessor. Although formed from a single pulp, the molar tooth of an E. resembles an aggregation of teeth; and in the earlier stages of its growth, when the cement is not yet deposited, it seems as if many separate teeth were soldered together. As the surface of the tooth is worn down by mastication, the harder enamel is exposed in elevated ridges. The whole of a tooth is not in employment at once. From the peculiar manner of its growth, the anterior part begins to be employed, and to be worn away, whilst the latter part is still in process of formation.

The digestive apparatus of the E. is similar to that of the other pachydermata; but the stomach, which is of a very lengthened and narrow form, exhibits a peculiarity which assimilates it to that of the camel; the internal membrane, at the extremity beyond the cardiac orifice, forming thick wrinkles and folds, the broadest of which, and nearest to the gullet, seems to act as a valve, making that end of the stomach a reservoir for water, capable of containing about ten gallons; whilst a peculiar muscle, connecting the windpipe and gullet, enables the animal to open this reservoir at pleasure, for the regurgitation of the fluid, which is then sometimes received into the trunk, and squirted over the body, to free it from the nuisance of flies, or the heat of a tropical sun.

The female E. has only two teats, situated between the fore-legs. The young suck with the mouth, and not with the trunk. They are suckled for about two years. The period of gestation is also nearly two years, and a single young one is produced at a birth.

The skin of the E. is very thick, of a dark-brown colour, and in the existing species, has scarcely any covering of hair. The tail does not reach to the ground, and has a tuft of coarse bristles at the eud. The feet have in the skeleton five distinct toes, but these are so surrounded with a firm horny skin, that only the nails are visible externally, as on the margin of a kind of hoof. The foot of the E. is admirably adapted for steep and rough ground, the protective skin which covers the toes allowing them considerable freedom of

motion.

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divisions of the crown of the tooth fewer, broader, and lozenge-shaped.

Elephants live in herds, not generally numerous, but several herds often congregate together in the same forest or at the same place of drinking. Each herd has a leader, generally the largest and most powerful animal. The leader seems to exercise much control over the movements of the herd, gives the alarm in case of danger, and seems to examine and decide for the whole herd as to the safety of proceeding in any particular direction. On account of his tusks, the leader is very often the animal against which the efforts of the hunter are directed; but the rest of the herd do their utmost to protect him, and when driven to extremity, they place him in the centre, and crowd so eagerly to the front of him that some of them must often be shot ere he can be reached. A family resemblance is usually very visible among the elephants of the same herd; some herds are distinguished by greater stature, and others by more bulky form and stronger limbs ; some by particularly large tusks, some by slight peculiarities of the trunk, &c. In the East Indies, distinctions of this kind have long been carefully noticed, and particular names are given to clephants according to them, some being considered as highcaste, and others as low-caste elephants. An E. which by any cause has been separated from its herd, seems never to be admitted into another, and these solitary elephants are particularly troublesome, in their depredations exhibiting an audacity which the herds never exhibit; they are also savage and much dreaded, whilst from a herd of elephants danger is scarcely apprehended. The E. is generally one of the most inoffensive of animals, although in a state of domestication, it shews, as is well known, a power both of remembering and resenting an injury.

Only two existing species of E. are certainly known, the Indian (E. Indicus) and the African (E. Africanus), although differences have recently been observed in the E. of Sumatra, which may perhaps entitle it to be ranked as a distinct species. Elephants are found in all parts of Africa, from the Sahara southwards, where wood and water are The favourite haunts of wild elephants are in Bufliciently abundant; also throughout India and the depths of forests-particularly in mountainous the south-eastern parts of Asia, and in some of the regions-where they browse on branches, and from tropical Asiatic islands. They extend northwards which they issue chiefly in the cool of the night to the Himalaya; and Chittagong and Tiperah to pasture in the more open grounds. They are vie with Ceylon in the superior excellence of the ready to plunder rice or other grain-fields, if not elephants which they produce. The Indian E. is deterred by fences, of which, fortunately, they have, distinguished by a comparatively high oblong head, in general, an unaccountable dread, even although with a concave forehead; whilst the African has rather imaginary than real. A fence of mere reeds round head and convex forehead. The ears of will keep them out of fields, where, as soon as the the African E. are much larger than those of the grain is removed, they enter by the gaps of the Indian, covering the whole shoulder, and descending | fence, and may be seen gleaning among the stubble.

ELEPHANT.

When the E. eats grass, nothing can be more graceful than the ease with which, before conveying it to his mouth, he beats the earth from its roots by striking it on his fore-leg.' A cocoa-nut is first rolled under foot, to detach the outer bark, then stripped of the fibrous husk, and finally crushed between the grinders, when the fresh milk is swallowed with evident relish. The fruit of the palmyra palm is another favourite food of elephants, and they seem to have an instinctive knowledge of the time of its ripening. Sugar-canes are also a favourite food; indeed, elephants are very fond of sweet things. Those which are brought to Britain are generally fed on hay and carrots. The amount of daily food necessary for the E. in a state of domestication may be stated, on an average, at about two hundred pounds in weight.

Elephants delight in abundance of water, and enter it very freely, often remaining in it for a considerable time and with great evident enjoyment. They sometimes swim with not only the body but the head under water, the only part elevated above it being the extremity of the trunk.

The habits of the African E. appear in no important respect to differ from those of the Indian elephant. It is the latter only that is at the present day domesticated; but it is certain that the African species was anciently domesticated, and the figures on many Roman medals attest it.

hunger, that the next steps are taken towards taming him and making him a willing servant of man.

Still more wonderful is the capture of a wild E., sometimes by not more than two hunters, who for this purpose will go into the woods, without aid or attendants, their only weapon a flexible rope of hide. With this they secure one of the E.'s hind. legs, following his footsteps when in motion, or stealing close up to him when at rest, or sometimes spreading the noose on the ground, partially con cealed by roots and leaves, beneath a tree on which one of the party is stationed, whose business it is to lift it suddenly by means of a cord. When arrested by the rope being coiled around a tree, the E. naturally turns upon the man who is engaged in making it fast, but his companion interferes on his behalf, by provoking the animal; and thus not only is the first rope made fast, but noose after noose is passed over the legs, until all are at last tied to trees, and the capture is complete; upou which the hunters build a booth for themselves in front of their prisoner, kindle their fires for cooking, and remain day and night till the E. is sufficiently tamed to be led away.

But these huge animals are not always captured singly; whole herds are often taken at once. This is accomplished by means of an enclosure, towards which the elephants are driven by great numbers of men encircling a considerable space, and contracting the circle by slow degrees. Weeks, or even months, are spent in this operation, and at last the elephants, hemmed in on every side except the mouth of the enclosure, enter it, and the gate is immediately closed. The modes of constructing the enclosure are different in different parts of the East. Tame elephants are sometimes sent into it and the captives are in succession made fast to tree there, in a way somewhat similar to that practised in capturing single elephants.

Elephants rarely breed in a state of domestication, although, a few years ago, the birth of an elephant took place in the Zoological Gardens of London, an occasion of much interest not only to the scientific but to the general public. They are generally tamed within a few months after they are captured; some degree of severity being employed at first, which, however, as soon as the animal has begun to respect the power of man, is exchanged for kindness and gentleness of treatment. Elephants intended for domestication are captured in various ways. It was formerly common to take them in pitfalls, but The E. first became known in Europe from its in this way they were often much injured. Another employment in the wars of the East: in India, from method frequently practised is by the aid of tame the remotest antiquity, it formed one of the most elephants. Male elephants chiefly are captured in picturesque, if not of the most effective, features in this way, the decoy elephants employed being females, the armies of the native princes.' Elephants have trained for the purpose. With these the hunters been taught to cut and thrust with a kind of very cautiously approach the animal they mean to scimitar carried in the trunk, and it was formerly capture, and he generally permits them to come up usual for them to be sent into battle, covered with to him, and is so pleased to make the acquaintance of armour, and bearing towers on their backs, which the females, that he takes no notice of their riders contained warriors. But the principal use of the E. and other human attendants. Two of the females in war is for carrying baggage, and for dragging take their places, one on each side of him, and guns. An E. will apply his forehead to a cannon, whilst he is occupied with them, men, the profession and urge it through a bog, through which it would of whose lives it is, and who display a wonderful be almost impossible for men and cattle to drag it; expertness in the work, contrive to get beneath or he will wind his trunk round it, and lift it up, their bodies, and to pass ropes round the legs of the whilst horses or cattle drag it forwards. Elephants intended captive. His two hind-legs are fastened are used in the East for carrying persons on their. together by six or eight ropes in the form of the backs, a number being seated together in a howdah, figure 8, another rope keeping them tight at the whilst the driver (mahout) sits on the E.'s neck, intersections, and a strong cable with a running- directing it by his voice and by a small goad. noose is attached to each hind-leg. About twenty Elephants have always a conspicuous place in the minutes are usually spent in fixing the necessary great processions and state displays of eastern ropes, profound silence being maintained if the princes, and white elephants-albinos-are peculiarly process goes on unobserved, or some of the other valued. Elephants are also employed in many kinds inters distracting the attention of the E. from of labour, and display great sagacity in comprehendthose who are engaged in this work; and when ing the nature of their task and adapting them at last, becoming sensible of his danger, he tries to retreat, an opportunity is soon found of tying him, by means of the long cables which trail behind him, to some tree strong enough for the purpose. His fury then becomes ungovernable, and he makes violent and prodigious efforts to get free, throwing himself on the ground, and twisting himself into the most extraordinary positions. It is not until he has thoroughly exhausted himself, and begins to suffer severely from fatigue, thirst, and

selves to it. In piling timber, the E. manifests an intelligence and dexterity which is surprising to a stranger, because the sameness of the operation enables the animal to go on for hours disposing of log after log, almost without a hint or direction from his attendant.'

Of the sagacity of the E., many interesting anecdotes are on record, as every reader of books of travels and of natural history knows. But Cuvier refuses, and apparently with justice, to ascribe

ELEPHANT.

to it a degree of sagacity higher than that of the dog. In a state of domestication, the E. is a delicate animal, requiring much watchfulness and care, although naturally it has a very long life, and instances are on record of extreme longevity in domestication, extending not only to more than one hundred, but almost to two hundred years.

The numbers of wild elephants in some parts both of the East Indies and of Africa, are being gradually reduced as cultivation extends, and many are shot for no other reason than a desire to reduce their numbers, and put an end to their ravages on culti vated grounds. A reward of a few shillings per head was claimed for 3500 destroyed in part of the northern province alone of Ceylon, in less than three years prior to 1848. It is for the sake of ivory that the greatest slaughter of elephants takes place. A ball of hard metal, skilfully planted in the eye, base of the trunk, or behind the ear, generally ends an E.'s life in an instant; and expert sportsmen have been known to kill right and left one with each barrel.

Fossil Elephants.-The E. makes its appearance in the Pleistocene strata. Its near ally, the mastodon, whose remains are found associated with it, began life earlier; it has left its traces in Miocene deposits. Ten species of fossil elephants have been described, the remains of three of which are found in Europe. The best known of these is the Elephas primigenius, or Mammoth, the tusks of which are so little altered as to supply an ivory which, though inferior to that of the living species, is still used in the arts, especially in Russia. Its tusks are, on this account, regularly searched for by ivory hunters' in Siberia, where, in the superficial deposits of sand, gravel, and loam, the remains occur in enormous abundance. They are also found in similar strata all over Europe. In Britain, the localities that have supplied these remains are very numerous. They are especially abundant in the Pleistocene deposits of the east and south-east of England. Woodward, in his Geology of Norfolk, calculates that upwards of 2000 grinders of this animal have been dredged up by the fishermen off Happisburgh in thirteen years. The bone-caves also yield remains of this gigantic animal.

The mammoth truly belongs to the geological history of the world; it died out at the close of the period represented by the Pleistocene beds. It is the only fossil animal that has been preserved in a perfect condition for the examination of man. In all other remains we have to deal with the hard portions only-the bones, teeth, scales, &c., and frequently only with fragmentary portions, requiring the skill of a Cuvier or an Owen to make from them an approximation to the perfect animal. But the mammoth has been preserved so that its flesh has been eaten by dogs, bears, and wolves. In 1799, a Tungusian, named Schumachoff, while searching along the shores of Lake Oncoul for mammoth tusks, observed among the blocks of ice a shapeless mass, but did not at the time discover what it was. The heat of succeeding summers gradually melted the ice around it, and, in 1803, the mammoth fell on a bank of sand. In March of the following year, the hunter visited it, cut off, and carried away the tusks, which he Bold for fifty rubles. In 1806, Mr Adams visited the locality, and examined the animal, which still remained on the sand-bank where it had fallen, but in a greatly mutilated condition. The Jakutski of the neighbourhood had cut off the flesh to feed their dogs, and the wild beasts had almost entirely cleared the bones. The skeleton was, however, entire, excepting one of the fore-legs, and some of the bones of the tail. Many of the bones were still held together by the ligaments and by parts of the

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Mr

shore, a distance of 150 feet; it was of a dark-gray
colour, and was covered with a reddish wool, and
long black hairs or bristles. The wool was short,
and curled in locks; the bristles were of different
lengths, varying from 1 to 18 inches. Some of this
covering still remained attached to the skin, but the
great mass was entirely separated from it.
Adams collected 36 pounds, although much of it
had been destroyed from the dampness of the place
where it had lain so long. The animal was a male,
The entire
and had a long mane on the neck.
carcass was removed to St Petersburg, where it is
now preserved. The tusks were repurchased, and
It measures from the fore-
added to the animal.
part of the skull to the end of the mutilated tail 16
feet 4 inches; the height to the top of the dorsal
spines is 9 feet 4 inches; the length of the tusks
along the curve is 9 feet 6 inches. Portions of the
hairy covering have been brought to this country,
and may be seen in the British Museum.

Taking the teeth as exhibiting clearly a marked difference in the recent species, the mammoth is easily separated from both by its broader grinders, which have narrower, and more numerous, and close-set plates and ridges. The existence of the E. and other genera, whose representatives are now found only in the warmer regions of the earth, in the north of Europe and Asia, led to the belief, that at the recent period in the world's history when they were its living inhabitants, a tropical temperature existed in the temperate zone, and stretched further north towards the pole; but the discovery of this perfect animal shewed that these huge elephants were adapted by their clothing to endure a cold climate, and by the structure of their teeth were able to employ as food the branches and foliage of the northern pines, birches, willows, &c. There are few generalisations more plausible at first sight than to predicate of an unknown species of a genus what is ascertained regarding the known members of the same genus. It required a striking case, such as that supplied by the discovery of the mammoth, to shew clearly the fallacy of deductions which were almost universally received by scientific men not many years ago, which still occasionally mislead, and which may even now be met with in some popular hand-books of science.

ELEPHANT. An order of the elephant was instituted in Denmark, by King Frederick II. The badge was a collar of elephants towered, supporting the king's arms, and having at the end the picture of the Virgin Mary.

ELEPHANTA-ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES.

ELEPHANTA, an island of six miles in circuit, stands in the harbour of Bombay (q. v.), about seven miles to the cast of that city, and about five miles to the west of the mainland. It takes this its European name from a huge figure of an elephant near its principal landing-place, which, however, appears to have gradually crumbled away. This colossal animal has been cut out of a detached rock, which is apparently of basaltic origin. Further towards the interior, three temples, dug out of the living mountain, present themselves the roofs being supported by curiously wrought pillars of various forms and magnitudes, and the walls being thickly sculptured into all the varieties of Hindu mythology. The largest of the three excavations is nearly square, measuring 133 feet by 130 feet; and imediately fronting its main entrance stands a bust or third-length of a three-headed deity, with a height of 18 feet, and a breadth of 23. These monuments of superstition, like the quadruped which guards, as it were, the approaches to them, are said to be rapidly decaying a state of things which, besides in some measure accounting for the execution of such works, seems to be inconsistent with any very high antiquity. The island is in lat. 18° 57′ N., and long. 73° E.

leaves, to a genus of plants of the natural order
Composite, sub-order Corymbiferæ, one species of
which (E. scaber) is common in elevated dry situa
tions in all parts of India, and is used in Indian
medicine in affections of the urinary organs.
ELETTA'RIA. See CARDAMOM.
ELETZ. See JELETZ.

ELEUSINE, a genus of Grasses, chiefly natives
of India and other warm climates, several of which
are cultivated as grains. This is especially the case
with E. corocana, an Indian species, called Natcance
and Nagla Ragee, also Mand and Murwa, which
has aggregated digitate spikes finally incurved.
The Tibetans make a weak sort of beer, much in
use amongst them, from this grain. E. stricta is
cultivated as a grain-crop in the same parts of the
world, and is, lik. the former, extremely productive.
The grain called Tocusso in Abyssinia is also a species
of this genus, E. Tocusso. A decoction of E. yyp-
tiaca is used in Egypt for cleansing ulcers, and a drink
made from the seeds is regarded as useful in diseases of
E. Indica, which has been
the kidneys and bladder.
naturalized in the northern U. States, is the common
crab grass, also known as dog's-tail and wire grass.

ELEUSI'NIAN MY'STERIES, the sacred rites with which the annual festival of Ceres was cele

ELEPHANTI'NÉ, a small island of the Nile, brated at Eleusis. Many traditions were afloat in lying opposite to Assouan (q. v.), the ancient Syene, on the confines of Egypt and Nubia, in 24° 5' N ancient times as to the origin of this festival. Of lat., and 32° 54′ E. long. From this island, the these, the most generally accepted was to the effect Greek mercenaries were sent by Psammitichus I. to that Ceres, wandering over the earth in quest of her recall the Egyptian deserters, and it was garrisoned daughter Proserpine, arrived at Eleusis, where she in the time of the Pharaohs, Persians, and Romans, took rest on the sorrowful stone beside the well The island was anciently called Abu, or the ivory Callichorus. In return for some small acts of kindisland,' from its having been the entrepôt of the ness, and to commemorate her visit, she taught trade in that precious material. The most import- Triptolemus the use of corn on the Rharian plain ant ruins are a gateway of the time of Alexander, near the city, and instituted the mystic rites pecu and a small temple dedicated to Khuum, the liarly known as hers. The outward method of the god of the waters, and his contemplar deities, celebration of these mysteries is known with conAnucis and Sate. This temple was founded by siderable accuracy of detail. Their esoteric signi Amenophis III., and embellished by Rameses III.ficance is very variously interpreted. The ancients Another remarkable edifice is the ancient Nilometer, revealed to the initiated gave them better hopes themselves generally believed that the doctrines formerly mentioned by Strabo, and which appears to have been built in the time of the Caesars; and than other men enjoyed, both as to the present life several remaining inscriptions record the heights of and as to a future state of existence. Modern specu inundation from the time of Augustus to Severus. lation has run wild in the attempt satisfactorily to This island had the honour of giving a dynasty any other seems to be that of Bishop Thirlwall, who explain these mysteries. As reasonable a solution as (the 5th) to Egypt, and was evidently an important finds in them the remains of a worship which preplace, the inscriptions on the rocks attesting the adoration paid by Sethos I., Psammitichus II., and ceded the rise of the Hellenic mythology and its other monarchs, to the local deities. Other interest attendant rites, grounded on a view of nature, less ing monuments have been found on this island; both philosophical thought and religious feeling. fanciful, more earnest, and better fitted to awaken amongst which may be cited part of a calendar recording the rise of the Dog-star in the reign of The festival itself consisted of two parts, the greater and the lesser mysteries. The less important feast, Thothmes III (1445 B. C.), and numerous fragments of pottery-principally receipts in the Greek lan- serving as a sort of preparation for the greater, was guage-given by the farmers of the taxes in the the great mysteries began at Eleusis on the 15th held at Agra, on the Ilissus. reign of the Antonines. The island is at present inhabited by Nubians.-Wilkinson, Topography of day of Boedromion, the third month of the Attio Thebes, p. 460; Champollion, Notice Descriptive, year, and lasted over nine days. On the first day p. 215; Champollion, Lettres Ecrites, pp. 111, 157, already initiated at the preparatory festival, ret, (called agurmos, the assembling), the neophytes, and were instructed in their sacred duties. On the second day (called Haladé, mystæ, To the sor, ys initiated!), they purified themselves by washing in the sea. On the third day, sacrifices, comprising, among other things, the mullet-fish, and cakes made of barley from the Rharian plain, were offered with special rites. The fourth day was devoted to the procession of the sacred basket of Ceres (the Kalathion). This basket, containing pomegranates, salt, poppy seeds, &c., and followed by bands of women carrying smaller baskets similarly filled, was drawn in a consecrated cart through the streets, amil The naine ELEPHANT'S FOOT (Elephantopus) is shouts of 'Hail, Ceres!' from the onlookers. The also given, on account of the form of the root- | fifth day was known as the day of the tor :hes,' and

171, 382.

ELEPHANT'S FOOT, or HOTTENTOT'S BREAD (Testudinaria elephantipes), a plant of the natural order Dioscoreaceae, of which the root-stock forms a large fleshy mass, curiously truncate, or abruptly cut off at the end, so as somewhat to resemble an elephant's foot, and covered with a soft, corky, rough, and cracked bark. From this springs a climbing stem, which bears the leaves and flowers. The root-stock is used as food by the Hottentots. The plant is not unfrequently to be seen in hothouses in Britain.

The celebration of

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