Owing To The Heat, In My Opinion, The Cattle Of This
Country Are Much Smaller Than Those Of Italy.
It is a great rarity to see
a red cow in this country, as they are all black or white, or mottled
with black and white spots.
Beasts of prey, such as lions, leopards, and
wolves, are numerous, and there are plenty of hares. Wild elephants go
about in troops, like the wild swine in Italy, but can never be tamed, as
they are in other parts of the world. As the elephant is a well-known
animal, I shall only observe in general, that those of Africa are of a
very large size, as may be easily conceived by the size of their teeth,
which are imported into Europe. Of these large teeth, or tusks rather,
each elephant has two in the lower jaw, the points of which turn down,
whereas those of the wild boar are turned up. Before my voyage to Africa
I had been told that the elephant could not bend its knee, and slept
standing; but this is an egregious falsehood for the bending of their
knees can be plainly perceived when they walk, and they, certainly lie
down and rise again like other animals. They never shed their large teeth
before death; neither do they do any harm to man unless provoked. In that
case the elephant makes his attack with his trunk, which is a kind of
nose, protruded to a great length. He can contract and extend this
proboscis at pleasure, and is able to toss a man with it as far as a
sling can throw a stone.
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