[157] _The Angler in the Lake District_, p. 23. A similar story is told in the _Memoir of Bishop Wilson_, of an elephant which when suffering with ophthalmia had experienced the relief derived from a solution of nitrate of silver, and voluntarily offered its eye for a re-application of the remedy, on a second visit of the surgeon. [158] A shocking account of the death of this poor animal is given in HONE’S _Every-Day Book_, March 1830, p. 337. [159] ÆLIAN, lib. xiii. c. 7. [160] The elephant which was dissected by Dr. HARRISON of Dublin, in 1847, died of a febrile attack, after four or five days’ illness, which, as Dr. H. tells me in a private letter, was “very like scarlatina, at that time a prevailing disease: its skin in some places became almost scarlet.” [161] See a paper, entitled “_Recollections of Ceylon_,” in _Fraser’s Magazine_ for December 1860. [162] _Annales du Muséum_, F. viii. 1805. p. 94, and _Ossemens Fossiles_, quoted by OWEN, in the article on “Teeth,” in TODD’S _Cyclop. of Anatomy_, _etc._ vol. iv. p. 929. [163] An ordinary-sized elephant engrosses the undivided attention of _three_ men. One, as his mahout or superintendent, and two as leaf-cutters, who bring him branches and grass for his daily supplies. An animal of larger growth would probably require a third leaf-cutter. The daily consumption is two cwt. of green food with about half a bushel of grain. When in the vicinity of towns and villages, the attendants have no difficulty in procuring an abundant supply of the branches of the trees to which elephants are partial; and in journeys through the forests and unopened country, the leaf-cutters are sufficiently expert in the knowledge of those particular plants with which the elephant is satisfied. Those that would be likely to disagree with him he unerringly rejects. His favourites are the palms, especially the cluster of rich, unopened leaves, known as the “cabbage,” of the coco-nut and areca; and he delights to tear open the young trunks of the palmyra and jaggery (_Caryota urens_) in search of the farinaceous matter contained in the spongy pith. Next to these come the varieties of fig-trees, particularly the sacred _Bo_ (_F. religiosa_) which is found near every temple, and the _na gaha_ (_Messua ferrea_), with thick dark leaves and a scarlet flower. The leaves of the jak-tree and bread-fruit (_Artocarpus integrifolia_, and _A. incisa_), the wood apple (_Ægle Marmelos_), Palu (_Mimusops Indica_), and a number of others well known to their attendants, are all consumed in turn. The stems of the plaintain, the stalks of the sugar-cane, and the feathery tops of the bamboos, are irresistible luxuries. Pine-apples, water-melons, and fruits of every description, are voraciously devoured, and a coconut when found is first rolled under foot to detach it from the husk and fibre, and then raised in his trunk and crushed almost without an effort, by his ponderous jaws.