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and the oldest always leads. The young, the females, and the weakly, are put in the center, and are surrounded by the stronger in a compact body. Thus they march in perfect security through the deserts; and when they come to an enclosed place, every thing seems to fall® before them. The husbandınan finds it a vain matter to attempt resistance, and is forced to give up the fruits of his labour, which are destroyed in a short time. Hunters may take revenge upon the stragglers, and such as are left behind; but it would be certain destruction to attack the main body. If even a number of men were to do so, the elephants would advance right forward, and though some of them might be injured, the others would beat their enemies with their trunks, toss them up into the air with their teeth, and then trample them under their feet to death.

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The trunk of the elephant is one of the most curious things in nature, and belongs to him alone. Properly speaking, it is but a lengthened snout, hollow, and ending in two nostrils like those of a pig. It is generally about 8 or 9 feet long, and at the base, five feet and a half round; though hollow, it has a division which runs through its whole length, so that it is in reality double. Through it the animal drinks,

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breathes, and smells, and at the end is an extension of the skin five inches in length, which serves all the purposes of a finger.

The trunk

may be turned in every direction, lengthened, shortened, and bent into every form at will, ; so pliant that it will embrace any thing, and so strong that nothing can be torn from its grasp. The finger at the end will take up the smallest substance, even a pin; and an ele. phant has been made to hold a pen by it, and write legible letters. The tusks or teeth are two in number; they grow from the upper jaw to the length of six feet, and are useful only for defence. When the animal grows old they become very heavy, so that it is obliged to makes holes in its stall for their support.

In a certain city of the East, an elephant, which often passed through the market-place, always received from a certain herb woman, a handful of greens. Being one day seized with a fit of anger, he broke his fetters, and running through the market, put the crowd to flight, and among others, the woman, who in her hurry forgot a little child at her stall. The elephant remembering the spot where his friend used to sit, took up the infant gently in his trunk, and carried it to a place of safety.

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At the Cape of Good Hope, the elephant is hunted for his teeth, which will produce more than two hundred pounds of ivory. Three horsemen, well mounted and armed with spears attack him, one after another, giving relief as they see their companion hard pressed, until the beast is subdued. Three Dutchmen, brothers, having made large fortunes by their business, resolved to return home and enjoy the fruits of their labours; but before they went, they wished to have a last chase by way of amusement. Unhappily, one of their horses: fell, and flung his rider; the elephant instantly came up, seized the huntsman with his trunk, flung him up to a great height in the air, and received him upon his tusks as he fell. Then: he turned to the other two brothers with a look of contempt and revenge, holding out to them the wretched man writhing upon his tusks, in the agonies of death.

THE ALBATROSS.

THIS bird is found in almost all parts of the world, from Kamschatka, where it is called by the natives "the great gull," to the warmest climates, and about the Cape of Good Hope. It lives upon fish, and is exceedingly voracious,

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so as to appear almost insatiable.-Nature has qualified it for the indulgence of this appetite; for its digestion is amazingly quick, and its throat is so wide, that it will swallow a salmon five pounds in weight. And such is the eagerness with which it gorges down its prey, that a fish, by being too long, and too large, will sometimes stop in the passage, and when the head has reached the bird's stomach, the tail and fins will remain hanging out of the mouth, until the rest is digested. In this wonderful voracity, it bears a great resemblance to a certain large serpent, which, after breaking the bones of an animal, will attempt to swallow it, though in vain; for part will stop in the gullet and mouth, rendering those dangerous reptiles quite helpless for the time, in so much that they may be knocked on the head with a club. But to return. The albatross, is a sure sign to the sailors that a shoal of fishes is at hand, for it is always in pursuit of them, and follows them as they go from one region

to another.

This bird breeds in nests which it makes upon the ground; these nests are round and about a foot high. In this it lays its eggs four or five in number, and larger than a goose's. While the female is hatching, the

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