ELEPHAS, the ELEPHANT. See Encyclopaedia; where the natural history of this huge and sagacious animal is detailed at considerable length. Since that article was published, we have seen the third volume of the Asiatic Researches, in which some important questions, which we were then obliged to leave in uncertainty, seem to be decided by John Corfe, Esq. They relate, 1st, To the mode in which elephants copulate; which Buffon asserts (and in proof of his assertion adduces the structure and position of the generative organ in the female) to be performed while that female remains recumbent on the back; but which Mr Corfe insists, from ocular evidence, takes place after the manner in which the horse copulates with the mare. 2d, To the method of receiving nourishment from the mother; which is not, as Buffon avers, by the trunk, but by the mouth, which sucks the dug, while the trunk of the young animal grasps it round to press out the milk. 3d, To the period of their going with young; which
Mr Corfe conceives cannot be less than two years; whereas Buffon and Pennant assign only nine months for the gestation of their young. His reasons for this supposition are unanswerable, and shall be given in his own words.
"As far as I know, the exact time an elephant goes with young has not yet been ascertained; but it cannot be less than two years, as one of the elephants brought forth a young one, twenty one months and three days after she was taken. She was observed to be with young in April or May 1788, and she was only taken in January preceding; so that it is very likely she must have had connection with the male some months before she was secured, otherwise they could not have discovered that she was with young, as a fetus of less than six months cannot well be supposed to make any alteration in the size or shape of so large an animal. The young one, a male, was produced October 16, 1789, and appeared in every respect to have arrived at its full time. The gentleman to whom it belongs examined its mouth a few days after it was brought forth, and found that one of its grinders on each side had partly cut the gum."
When Mr Corfe wrote his memoir, the young elephant was active and well, and beginning to eat a little grass. In Africa the Hottentots feed on the elephant; and M. Vailant declares, that an elephant's foot, when baked in their manner, is a most delicious morsel.