African. It is at all times difficult to give the measurement of a dead
animal, especially when so enormous, as the pressure of weight when
alive would reduce the height afforded by measurement when the body is
horizontal.

The well-known African elephant Jumbo that was sold to America by the
Zoological Society of London, was brought up in confinement since its
early existence, when it was about 4 feet 6 inches high. That elephant
was carefully weighed and measured before it left England, with the
result, of height at shoulder, 11 feet; weight, six tons and a half. The
girth of the fore-foot when the pressure of the animal's weight was
exerted, was exactly half the perpendicular height of the elephant. I
have seen very much larger animals in Africa, but there is nothing in
India to approach the size of Jumbo.

There is no reason why the African elephants should not be tamed and
made useful, but the difficulty lies in obtaining them in any great
numbers. The natives of Africa are peculiarly savage, and their
instincts of destruction prevent them from capturing and domesticating
any wild animals. During nine years' experience of Central Africa I
never saw a tamed creature of any kind, not even a bird, or a young
antelope in possession of a child. The tame elephant would be especially
valuable to an explorer, as it could march through streams too deep for
the passage of oxen, and in swimming rivers it would be proof against
the attacks of crocodiles. So few African elephants have been tamed in
proportion to those of Asia that it would be difficult to pronounce an
opinion upon their character when domesticated, but it is generally
believed by their trainers that the Indian species is more gentle and
amenable to discipline. The power of the African is far in excess of the
Asiatic. Nine feet at the highest portion of the back is a good height