10                 A TREATISE ON ELEPHANTS.

the tail should be of good length, free from hardness, and provided
with a good tuft of bristles. Animals such as described will not
often be met with ; still when selecting, it will be as well to obtain
those possessing most of the good points enumerated.

The undesirable points are numerous. Some animals are flat-
sided, others have high arched backs, with very prominent spinal
ridges (see Fig. 1) ; others are narrow-chested, with lean low fore-

[NLS note: a graphic appears here - see image of page]

FIG. I.—Elephant with prominent spinal ridge. After Sanderson.

quarters, or are leggv, and devoid of those enormous masses of
muscle seen on the fore-limbs of a good elephant. In some animals
the legs are of almost uniform girth throughout ; tall leggy beasts
and those with bad fore-quarters are invariably rough in action and
slow in their paces; they are, moreover, much more liable to gall,
and are generally indifferent workers. Elephants with thin, light-
coloured skins, even if they possess many good points, should be
avoided ; they are as a rule not strong, and frequently fall sick.
Those animals possessed of lean heads, hollow cheeks, small restless
eyes, shortish thin trunks, should be treated with suspicion, as they
very often are bad-tempered.