ds the scene of the massacre of
Major Davie's party in 1803, my horse evinced some excitement at a noise
which approached us in the thick jungle, and which consisted of a
repetition of the ejaculation _urmph! urmph!_ in a hoarse and
dissatisfied tone. A turn in the forest explained the mystery, by
bringing me face to face with a tame elephant, unaccompanied by any
attendant. He was labouring painfully to carry a heavy beam of timber,
which he balanced across his tusks, but the pathway being narrow, he was
forced to bend his head to one side to permit it to pass endways; and
the exertion and this inconvenience combined led him to utter the
dissatisfied sounds which disturbed the composure of my horse. On seeing
us halt, the elephant raised his head, reconnoitred us for a moment,
then flung down the timber, and voluntarily forced himself backwards
among the brushwood so as to leave a passage, of which he expected us to
avail ourselves. My horse hesitated: the elephant observed it, and
impatiently thrust himself deeper into the jungle, repeating his cry of
_urmph!_ but in a voice evidently meant to encourage us to advance.
Still the horse trembled; and anxious to observe the instinct of the two
sagacious animals, I forbore any interference: again the elephant of his
own accord wedged himself further in amongst the trees, and manifested
some impatience that we did not pass him. At length the horse moved
forward; and when we were fairly past, I saw the wise creature stoop and
take up its heavy burthen, trim and balance it on its tusks, and resume
its route as before, hoarsely snorting its discontented remonstrance.

Between the African elephant and that of Ceylon, with the exception of
the striking peculiarity of the infrequency of tusks in the latter, the
distinctions are less apparent to a casual observer than to a scientific
naturalist. In the Ceylon species the forehead is higher and more
hollow, the ears are smaller, and, in a section of the teeth, the
grinding ridges, instead of being lozenge-shaped, are transverse bars of
uniform breadth.

The Indian elephant is stated by Cuvier to have four nails on the hind
foot, the African variety having only three: but amongst the perfections
of a high-bred elephant of Ceylon, is always enumerated the possession
of _twenty_ nails, whilst those of a secondary class have but eighteen
in all.[1]

[Footnote 1: See Chapter on Mammalia, p. 60.]

So conversant are the natives with t