moderation even in his most violent passions; he is more constant than impetuous in love: in anger he does not forget his friends; he never attacks any but those who have given him some offence; and he remembers favours as long as injuries. Having no taste for flesh, and feeding chiefly upon vegetables, he is not naturally an enemy to any living creature; he is beloved by them all, since all of them respect, and no one has cause to fear him. For these reasons, men at all times have had a sort of veneration for this first of animals. The ancients considered the elephant as a prodigy, a miracle of Nature, and he is in reality her greatest effort; they have attributed to him without hesitation, intellectual qualities and moral virtues. Pliny, Ælian, Solinus, Plutarch, and other more modern authors, have even given to this animal rational faculties, a natural innate religion, the observation of a daily worship, such as that of the sun and moon, the use of ablution before adoration, a spirit of divination, piety towards heaven and their fellow creatures whom they assist at their deaths; and after their decease, express their regret by tears, and cover them with earth. The Indians, prepossessed with the opinion of the metempsychosis, are to this day persuaded, that a body so majestic as that of the elephant cannot be animated but by the soul of a great man, or a king. They respect at Siam,[AE] Laos, and Pegu, white elephants as the living manes of the emperors of India. They have each of them a palace, a number of servants, golden vessels, exquisite dainties, magnificent trappings, and are absolved from all labour and obedience; the living emperor is the only one before whom they kneel down, and the monarch returns the salute. These flattering attentions, this respect, these offerings flatter them but do not inspire them with vanity; they have not consequently a human soul, and this circumstance should be sufficient to prove it to the Indians. [Footnote AE: The white elephant, so much respected in India, and who has been the cause of so many wars, is very small and wrinkled with age. He is attended by several mandarins who are appointed to take care of him, and his victuals is presented to him in large golden vessels; his apartment is very magnificent, and gilt all round. At about a league from the country-house belonging to the king, is another white elephant, kept as a successor to the former, whom they say is 300 years old. He is also attended by mandarins, and his mother and aunt are kept with him out of respect. _Premier Voyage du P. Tachard._]