their trunks with water, either to convey it to their mouths, or only to cool their noses, and to amuse themselves in sprinkling it around them. They cannot support cold, and suffer equally from excessive heat; to avoid the burning rays of the sun, they penetrate into the thickest recesses of the forests. They bathe often in the water; the enormous size of their bodies is rather an advantage to them in swimming, and they do not sink so deep in the water as other animals; besides, the length of their trunks, which they erect in the air, and through which they breathe, takes from them all fear of being drowned. Their common food is roots, herbs, leaves, and young branches; they also eat fruit and corn, but they have a dislike to flesh and fish. When one of them finds a good pasture, he calls the others, and invites them to come and feed with him. As they consume a great quantity of fodder, they often change their place, and when they find cultivated lands they make a prodigious waste; their bodies being of an enormous weight, they destroy ten times more with their feet, than they consume for their food, which may be reckoned at 150lbs. of grass daily; and as they always keep in great numbers together, they will lay waste a large territory in an hour's time; for this reason the Indians and Negroes exert every means to prevent their visits, and to drive them away; they make great noises, and large fires round their cultivated lands; yet, notwithstanding these precautions, the elephants often take possession of them, drive away the cattle and men, and sometimes pull down their cottages. It is difficult to frighten them, as they are little susceptible of fear; the only things that can stop their progress are fire-works, and crackers thrown amongst them; the sudden and repeated noise of which sometimes occasions them to turn back. It is very difficult to part them, for they commonly act together whether they attack, proceed, or turn back.