The
natives have assured me that they mutually assist each other, and that
several engage together in the work of overturning a large tree. None of
the mimosas have tap-roots; thus the powerful tusks of the elephants,
applied as crowbars at the roots, while others pull at the branches with
their trunks, will effect the destruction of a tree so large as to
appear invulnerable. The Ceylon elephant rarely possessing tusks, cannot
destroy a tree thicker than the thigh of an ordinary man.
In Ceylon, I have seldom met old bulls in parties - they are generally
single or remain in pairs; but, in Africa, large herds are met with,
consisting entirely of bulls. I have frequently seen sixteen or twenty
splendid bulls together, presenting a show of ivory most exciting to a
hunter. The females in Africa congregate in vast herds of many hundreds,
while in Ceylon the herds seldom average more than ten.
The elephant is by far the most formidable of all animals, and the
African variety is more dangerous than the Indian, as it is next to
impossible to kill it by the forehead shot. The head is so peculiarly
formed, that the ball either passes over the brain, or lodges in the
immensely solid bones and cartilages that contain the roots of the
tusks.
