The
Female Elephants Are Fiercer Than The Males, And Much Stronger For
Carrying Burdens.
Sometimes they are seized by a kind of fury or
madness, on which occasions they run about in a disorderly manner.
One
elephant exceeds the size of three buffaloes, to which latter animals
their hair has some resemblance. Their eyes resemble those of swine.
Their snout or trunk is very long, and by means of it they convey food
and drink to their mouths, so that the trunk may be called the hand of
the elephant. The mouth is under the trunk, and is much like the mouth
of a sow. The trunk is hollow, and so flexible, that the animal can use
it to lay hold of sticks, and wield them with it as we do with the hand.
I once saw the trunk of a tree overthrown by one elephant, which 24 men
had in vain attempted. It has two great teeth or tusks in the upper jaw.
Their ears are very broad, above two spans even on the smallest
elephants. Their feet are round and as broad as the wooden trenchers
which are in ordinary use, and each foot has five round hoofs like large
oyster shells. The tail is about four spans long, like that of a
buffaloe, and is very thin of hair. Elephants are of various sizes, some
18 spans or 14 spans high, and some have been seen as high as 16 spans;
but the females are larger than the males of the same age.
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