Is considered the most intellectual animal in the creation after man. It has been supposed that in ancient times they lived nearer the poles than they now do; but, however, they are, at this time, confined nearly to the torrid zone. Providence, always impartial in the distribution of his gifts, has given this bulky quadruped a quick instinct nearly approaching to reason, in compensation for the uncouthness and ill shapedness of his body. The Ceylon Elephant, the largest of all, is about thirteen feet high, and seven broad, and is much the largest of all animals. His skin is in general a mouse colour, but it is sometimes white and sometimes black. His eyes are rather small for the size of his head, and his ears, which are very expanded and of a peculiar shape, have the concha hanging down, instead of standing up, as in most quadrupeds. The Elephant is a gregarious animal in his wild state, and in domesticity is susceptible of attachment and gratitude, as well as of anger and revenge. Several anecdotes are related of his quick apprehension, and chiefly of the vindictive treatment he uses against those who have either scoffed at or abused him. To disappoint him is dangerous, as he seldom fails to be revenged.

The following instance is given as a fact, and deserves to be recorded:-An Elephant, disappointed of his reward, out of revenge, killed his governor. The poor man's wife, who beheld the dreadful scene, took her two infants and threw them at the feet of the enraged animal, saying, "Since you have slain my husband, take my life also, as well as those of my children!” The Elephant instantly stopped, relented, and, as if stung with remorse, took the eldest boy in its trunk, placed him on its neck, adopted him for its governor, and would never allow any other person to mount it.

His mouth is armed with broad and strong grinding teeth, and two large tusks, which measure sometimes nine or ten feet. From these tusks, all that ivory can ever produce of fine and exquisite workmanship is made. The ivory from the tusks of the female is thought the best, as the tooth, being smaller, admits less porosity in the cellular part of the mass.

Becoming tame under the mild treatment of a good master, the Elephant is not only a most useful servant, for the purposes of state or war, but is also of great help in taming the wild ones that have been recently caught. The Hindostan superstition has paid great honours to the white race of this quadruped; and the island of Ceylon is supposed to breed the finest of the kind. This immense beast, by the wisdom, of Providence, has not been placed among the carnivorous animals: vegetable food being much more abundant than animal, he is destined to live on grass and tender sprouts of all sorts. This noble creature bears in state on his back the potentates of the East, and seems to delight in the pompous pageantry of Hindostan : in war, he carries a tower filled with archers; and, in a state of domesticity, lends his assistance to all who require it. The female is said to go a year with young; and to bring forth one at a time. The Elephant lives a hundred and twenty or a hundred and thirty years.

The greatest wonder the Elephant presents to the admiration of the intelligent observer of nature is his proboscis, or trunk, composed of elastic rings to the extent of six or eight feet, and so flexible that he uses it as dexterously as a man does his hand. It was erroneously said, that the Elephant could receive nourishment through his trunk; this sort of pipe is nothing but a prolongation to the snout, for the purpose of breathing, into which the animal can, by the strength of his lungs, draw up a great quantity of water or other liquid, which he spouts again, or brings back to his mouth by inverting and shortening his proboscis for this purpose. It would be exceeding the rules we have adopted in the compilation of this book, to say more upon a creature that has been so often and so well described by other naturalists.

Is generally famed for long life, but upon no certain authority. The naturalists agree, however, upon this point, that his life may exceed forty years: but, that his existence, as it has been asserted, reaches to three

centuries, has but little claim to our belief. He comes to his full growth at five, soon after which his horns, which are yearly shed and renewed, grow from a narrower basis, and are less branching. He is the tallest of the Deer kind. The Stag is called Hart after he has completed his fifth year. This creature is known in many countries; the female, called the Hind, is without horns. Every year, in the month of April, the male loses his antlers, and conscious of his temporary weakness, hides himself till his new ones are hardened. Little need be said of the pleasure taken in hunting the Stag, the Hart, and the Roebuck, it being a matter well known in this country, and in all parts of Europe. The following fact, recorded in history, will serve to show that the Stag is possessed of an extraordinary share of courage, when his personal safety is concerned :-Some years ago, William, Duke of Cumberland, caused a tiger and a Stag to be enclosed in the same area; and the Stag made so bold a defence, that the tiger was at length obliged to give up. His flesh is accounted an excellent food; and even his horns, so useful to cutlers, when reduced to shavings, are much esteemed in physic under the common name of hartshorn. The swiftness of the Stag is become proverbial, and the diversion of hunting this creature has, for ages, been looked upon as a royal amusement. In the times of William Rufus and Henry the First, it was less criminal to destroy one of the human species than a beast of the chase. This animal, when fatigued in the chase, often throws himself in a pond of water, or crosses a river, and, when caught, he sheds tears like a child. Our great Bard, Shakspeare, gives us a beautiful description of this circumstance in " As You Like It," Act II. Scene I.

"To the which place a poor sequestered Stag,
That from the hunter's aim had ta'en a hurt,
Did come to languish; and indeed, my lord,

The wretched animal heaved forth such groans
That their discharge did stretch his leathern coat
Almost to bursting; and the big round tears
Coursed one another down his innocent nose
In piteous chase."

Is one of the least of the Deer kind known in these climates, being not above three feet in length, and two in height. His horns are about nine inches long, round, and divided into three small branches. His colour is of a brown shade on the back, his face partly black, and partly ash colour, the chest and belly yellow, and the rump white; his tail is short. The Roebuck is more graceful than the stag, more active, more cunning, and comparatively swifter; his flesh is much esteemed, and his age does not exceed fifteen years. He is very delicate in the choice of his food, and requires a larger tract of country, suited to the wildness of his nature, which can never be thoroughly subdued. No arts can teach him to be familiar with his keeper, nor in any degree attached to him. These animals are easily terrified; and in their attempts to escape, will run with such force against the walls of their enclosure, as sometimes to disable themselves :