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 end. 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.

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 sufficiently abundant; also throughout India and the south-eastern parts of Asia, and in some of the tropical Asiatic islands. They extend northwards to the Himalaya; and Chittagong and Tiperah vie with Ceylon in the superior excellence of the elephants which they produce. The Indian E. is distinguished by a comparatively high oblong head, with a concave forehead; whilst the African has a round head and convex forehead. The ears of the African E. are much larger than those of the Indian, covering the whole shoulder, and descending

1, head of African elephant; 2, head of Asiatic elephant.

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 elephants 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.

The favourite haunts of wild elephants are in the depths of forests-particularly in mountainous regions-where they browse on branches, and from which they issue chiefly in the cool of the night to pasture in the more open grounds. They are ready to plunder rice or other grain-fields, if not deterred by fences, of which, fortunately, they have, in general, an unaccountable dread, even although rather imaginary than real. A fence of mere reeds will keep them out of fields, where, as soon as the grain is removed, they enter by the gaps of the fence, and may be seen gleaning among the stubble.

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 import ant 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.

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 scientifio 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 in this way they were often much injured. Another method frequently practised is by the aid of tame elephants. Male elephants chiefly are captured in this way, the decoy elephants employed being females, trained for the purpose. With these the hunters very cautiously approach the animal they mean to capture, and he generally permits them to come up to him, and is so pleased to make the acquaintance of the females, that he takes no notice of their riders and other human attendants. Two of the females take their places, one on each side of him, and whilst he is occupied with them, men, the profession of whose lives it is, and who display a wonderful expertness in the work, contrive to get beneath their bodies, and to pass ropes round the legs of the intended captive. His two hind-legs are fastened together by six or eight ropes in the form of the figure 8, another rope keeping them tight at the intersections, and a strong cable with a runningnoose is attached to each hind-leg. About twenty minutes are usually spent in fixing the necessary ropes, profound silence being maintained if the process goes on unobserved, or some of the other hunters distracting the attention of the E. from those who are engaged in this work; and when 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

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 hindlegs, following his footsteps when in motion, or stealing close up to him when at rest, or sometimes spreading the noose on the ground, partially concealed 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; upon 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 trees there, in a way somewhat similar to that practised in capturing single elephants.

The E. first became known in Europe from its employment in the wars of the East: 'in India, from the remotest antiquity, it formed one of the most picturesque, if not of the most effective, features in the armies of the native princes.' Elephants have been taught to cut and thrust with a kind of scimitar carried in the trunk, and it was formerly usual for them to be sent into battle, covered with armour, and bearing towers on their backs, which contained warriors. But the principal use of the E. in war is for carrying baggage, and for dragging guns. An E. will apply his forehead to a cannon, and urge it through a bog, through which it would be almost impossible for men and cattle to drag it; or he will wind his trunk round it, and lift it up, whilst horses or cattle drag it forwards. Elephants are used in the East for carrying persons on their backs, a number being seated together in a howdah, whilst the driver (mahout) sits on the E.'s neck, directing it by his voice and by a small goad. Elephants have always a conspicuous place in the great processions and state displays of eastern princes, and white elephants-albinos- -are peculiarly valued. Elephants are also employed in many kinds of labour, and display great sagacity in comprehending the nature of their task and adapting them. 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

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 cultivated 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

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. Mr 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, and had a long mane on the neck. The entire carcass was removed to St Petersburg, where it is now preserved. The tusks were repurchased, and added to the animal. It measures from the forepart 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. difference in the recent species, the mammoth is Taking the teeth as exhibiting clearly a marked 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 sanie 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.

was thou,ht to symbolise the wanderings of Ceres in quest of her daughter. On it the mystæ, led by the daduchus,' the torch-bearer, walked two by two to the teraple of the goddess, and seem to have spent the night there. The sixth day, called Iacchus, in honour of the son of Ceres, was the great day of the feast. On that day the statue of Iacchus was borne in pomp along the sacred way from the Ceramicus at Athens to Eleusis, where the votaries spent the night, and were initiated in the last mysteries. Till this stage of the proceedings, they had been only mysta; but on the night of the sixth day they were admitted into the innermost sanctuary of the temple, and, from being allowed to behold the sacred things, became entitled to be called 'epoptæ,' or 'ephori;' i. e., spectators, or contemplators. They were once more purified, and repeated their original oath of secrecy with an imposing and awful ceremonial, somewhat resembling, it is believed, the forms of modern free-masonry. On the seventh day, the votaries returned to Athens with mirth and music, halting for a while on the bridge over the Cephisus, and exercising their wit and satire against the spectators. The eighth day was called Epidauria, and was believed to have been added to the original number of the days for the convenience of those who had been unable to attend the grand ceremonial of the sixth day. It was named in honour of Esculapius, who arrived on one occasion from his native city of Epidaurus too late for the solemn rites, and the Athenians, unwilling to disappoint so distinguished a benefactor of mankind, added a supplementary day. On the ninth day took place the ceremony of the Plemocho,' in which two earthen vessels filled with wine were turned one towards the east, and the other towards the west. The attendant priests, uttering some mystic words, then upset both vessels, and the wine so spilt was offered as a libation.

Initiation into the Eleusinian mysteries was compulsory on every freeborn Athenian; but slaves, prostitutes, and persons who had forfeited their citizenship were excluded from the rites. During the period of the festival, none of those taking part in it could be seized or arrested for any offence. Lycurgus, with a view to destroying distinctions of class, forbade any woman to ride to the Eleusinia in a chariot, under a penalty of 6000 drachmæ. The mysteries were celebrated with the most scrupulous secrecy. No initiated person might reveal what he had seen under pain of death, and no uninitiated person could take part in the ceremonies under the same penalty. The priests were chosen from the sacred family of the Eumolpida, whose ancestor, Eumolpus, had been the special favourite of Ceres. The chief priest was called the 'Hierophant,' or 'Mystagogue;' next in rank to him was the Daduchus, or Torch-bearer; after whom came the Hiero-Ceryx,' or Sacred Herald, and the priest at the altar. Besides these leading ministers, there was a multitude of inferior priests and servants. ELEU'SIS, a celebrated town in ancient Attica, stood near the northern shore of the Gulf of Salamis, and not far from the confines of Megaris. It was famous as the chief seat of the worship of Ceres, whose mystic rites were here performed with great pomp and solemnity from the earliest authentic times till the era of Alaric. See ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES. The temple of the goddess, designed by Ictinus, the architect of the Parthenon, was the argest sacred edifice in Greece. The site of the ld Eleusis is now occupied by the little village of Lefsina or Lepsina.

ELEUTHERA, one of the Bahamas (q. v.), is, next to New Providence, the most populous island

in the whole chain. Including its dependent caye or keys, E., in 1851, contained 4610 inhabitants. It is more fertile than most of its neighbours, more especially surpassing all of them in the growth of fruit, such as the pine-apple, the orange, and the lemon.

ELEUTHE'RIA BARK, a name not unfre. quently given to the bark of the Croton Eleutheria also known as Cascarilla Bark. See CASCARILLA. It is called Eleutheria (or Eleuthera) Bark, because it is chiefly gathered on the island of Eleuthera.

E'LEVATED. Wings turned upwards are described in heraldry as elevated.

ELEVATION, in Architectural Drawing, is a representation of the flat side of a building, drawn with mathematical accuracy, but without the slightest attention to effect. In Art, again, elevation is a raising of the subject beyond its ordinary character in real life. A very good instance of elevation in this sense is given by Fairholt in his Dictionary of Terms in Art, in Rembrandt's Adoration of the Shepherds.' The whole of the objects and surroundings of the infant Saviour are of the most homely description; and still the light which is represented as issuing from his person gives an elevation to the scene which takes off from it entirely the character of being commonplace or vulgar.

ELEVATION, in Astronomy and Geography, means generally the height above the horizon of an object on the sphere, measured by the arc of a vertical circle through it and the zenith. Thus, the elevation of the equator is the arc of a meridian intercepted between the equator and the horizon of the place. The elevation of the pole is the complement of that of the equator, and is always equal to the latitude of the place. The elevation of a star, or any other point, is similarly its height above the horizon, and is a maximum when the star is on the meridian.

ELEVENTH, in Music, is the interval of the octave above the fourth.

ELF, a fairy, pl. ELVES. See FAIRIES.

ELF-ARROW-HEADS, ELFIN-ARROWS, ELF-BOLTS, ELF-DARTS, ELF-SHOT, and ELF-STONES, names popularly given in the British Islands to the arrow-heads of flint which were in use at an early period among the barbarous tribes of this country and of Europe generally, as they are still in use among the American Indians, the Esquimaux of the Arctic regions, and the inha bitants of some of the islands in the Pacific Ocean. It was believed that elves or fairies, hovering in the air, shot these barbs of flint at cattle, and occasionally even at men. Thus, Robert Gordon of Straloch, an accomplished country gentleman of the north of Scotland, writing in 1654, tells how one of his friends, travelling on horseback, found an elf-arrow-head in the top of his boot, and how a gentlewoman of discovered one in the breast of her his acquaintance, when out riding, habit. He remarks that, although they are got by chance in the fields and on the highways, one who goes to look for them on purpose will search in vain. He adds that they are most com- Elf-Arrow-Head. monly met with after showers-a circumstance which probably helped them in Germany to their names of thunder-bolts' and thunder-stones,' and is easily enough explained. The rain, by washing away the earth in which they