But let us see what the President has to do when the whole herd is standing in line, facing the water. He is at the bottom of the line, far down stream; so he looks up along the line to see that all are ready. Then he gives the signal for them to begin drinking; he does this by dipping his trunk into the water. Then the second one sees him do it, and does the same; in that way each elephant higher up the line sees that the next one below him has started drinking, so he too does the same. Soon they are all drinking, as you see in the picture at the beginning of this book. But why does the President have to give the signal to begin? Why is it that any elephant, anywhere along the line, cannot start drinking, just as he or she pleases? Think! Because if any one along the line started drinking too soon, he might muddy the water for those that stood _below_ him along the line, because the water flows down that way. But if the lower ones drank a little before, it would not matter if they _did_ muddy the water, for the higher ones would still have clear water to drink. That is why the lowest one drinks first, then the next, and so on up the line. Is not that very wise, and very fair to all? _How the Elephant Drinks_ But you must not think that an elephant actually drinks _through_ his trunk! He does not! The elephant's trunk is really his nose, though it is a very long nose. What he does is to dip the trunk into the stream and suck in the water about halfway up the trunk; then he curls up the tip of the trunk and gets it near his mouth; then he _blows_ through the nose, and _squirts_ the water into his mouth. Of course he has to do that many times, to get enough to drink. But he tries each time to dip only the tip of the trunk into the stream, so as not to muddy the water willfully! _Why the Elephant Drinks with His Trunk_ But, you may say, why cannot he drink like other animals, by going right into the stream till he gets his _mouth_ into the water? Because his mouth is so high up, and his neck is so stiff, that he would have to go quite two or three yards deep into the stream before he could get his mouth into the water, and then his heavy feet would stir up the mud in the stream where he was standing, and so dirty the very water he was drinking. Now you see what a wise animal the elephant is! The only way he could get clear water to drink was by having a long nose! And that is exactly what happened many, many years ago--his nose became long enough to reach the water from the bank. How that happened I shall tell you in another book, as you will not understand it till you are a year or two older. All the grown-up elephants drink in this way, and also some of the elephant children whose trunks have grown long enough to reach the stream. But what about a baby elephant? Why, its Mamma fills her own trunk with water, puts the tip into the baby's mouth and squirts the water into it.