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FEEDING OF ELEPHANTS.

in summer, when their hair grows long*.

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Favorite elephants are

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washed clean and oiled: the Emperor Akbar and the King of Pegu allowed sugar and ghee, or butter, to be given to their best elephants; such treatment might promote the growth of hair, in cold countries, where they would probably not be rubbed with pumice-stone; not being exposed to mud and dust. The doubtful circumstance of the mane appears to be the only material difference between the hair of the living and of this fossil elephant. Such hairs as are upon the proboscis of the live elephant, and upon the skin (as described by Mr. Blair) of the Dundee elephant, if growing upon the back, as in the musk ox, might, from their stiffness, appear as a mane.

There does not appear to be such a difference between the bones of the Lena elephant, and those of other fossil skeletons, as to entitle the former to be considered as a different species. "From the drawing I have before me," says Baron Cuvier, "I have every reason to believe, that the sockets of the teeth of Mr. Adams's elephant, have the same proportional lengths with those of other fossil elephants, of which the entire skulls have been found in other places .

"The alveoli of the tusks of the fossil elephant, found on the banks of the Indigerska, of another found in Siberia, of one (seen by Baron Cuvier) at Florence, and of one from the banks of the Volga, are three times as long as those of India and Africa, of the same size. The alveoli of Mr. Adams's elephant had been somewhat mutilated by the Tunguses, and therefore an accurate idea of their length could not be

:

* Strahlenberg, 385. Levesque, Vol. VII. p. 436.

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"We went to the river to see the king's and great noblemen's elephants washed. When they have soaked themselves in the water, they are rubbed and cleaned with pumice-stone, and after they are dry, they are rubbed with oil of cocoa." Tavernier, P. II. B. I. Ch. XIX. Ayeen Akbery, Vol. I. p. 127.

Theory of the Earth, p, 227.

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ALVEOLI OF THE TUSKS.

formed. This difference in the alveoli is of the more importance, as it agrees with the form of the lower jaw, and required a different conformation of the trunk of a fossil elephant*." The reader is referred to Chapter XVIII, for the reasons adduced why the fossil elephants. differ from the modern individuals which have been described.

* Cuvier, p. 176.

CHAPTER VII.

Description of the ancient City of Bangalla, which stood at the
Eastern Mouth of the Ganges, now overflowed. -Burmah.
-Pegu, &c. in the Sixteenth Century; all of which had been
subject to the Grand Khans, in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth
Centuries. Bloody Wars for a White Elephant.- -Siege of
Pegu. Deplorable Famine.-Immense Treasures.

MUCH historical confusion has arisen from the circumstance of there having been two countries called Bengal, or Bangalla; one of which had Gour for its capital, for the space of two thousand three hundred years*: the capital of the other was Bangalla, a very ancient city, situated at the eastern mouth of the Ganges.

"In some ancient maps, and books of travels, we meet with a city named Bengalla: but no traces of such a place now exist. It is described as being near the eastern mouth of the Ganges: and I conceive, that the site of it has been carried away by the river; as, in my remembrance, a vast tract of land has disappeared thereabouts. Bengalla appears to have been in existence during the early part of the seventeenth century +.".

* Vide Hamilton's East India Gazetteer," Bengal."

+ Rennel's Memoir, p. 57.

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KING OF BANGALLA IS DEFEATED BY KUBLAI'S OFFICER.

Marco Polo relates, that the Grand Khan Kublai conquered Mien and Bangalla; which has been contradicted, in consequence, it is presumed, of its not being generally known that there were two kingdoms of that name. The object of these notes is, to prove that there were two kingdoms; and that Kublai conquered the eastern one.

Hindostan was frequently invaded by the Mongols, in the thirteenth century, in great force, by way of Moultan; and Great Bengal was invaded by Chitta and Tibet; but they were always repulsed with loss*.

In 1272, the Grand Khan Kublai sent an army into the countries of Vochang and Karazan, for their protection against any attack from foreigners. It was afterwards his Majesty's policy to appoint his own sons to the governments; and these places were erected into a principality for his grandson, Timur Kaan, or CenTemur+.

When the King of Mien (Ava) and Bengalla heard that an army of Tartars had arrived at Vochang, he advanced immediately, to prevent the Grand Khan from stationing a force on the borders of his dominions. He had a numerous army of horse and foot, and a multitude of elephants, with twelve or sixteen men in each castle upon their backs. Nestardin, (a Nestorian), a brave and able officer, was much alarmed, having but twelve thousand men, (veterans, indeed, and valiant soldiers). The king had sixty thousand troops, and one thousand elephants. Nestardin reminded his troops, that their very name was a terror to the whole world, and promised to lead them to victory.

A bloody action ensued, which lasted from morning till noon.

* Vide Dow's History, Vol. I. and Chap. II. of this Vol.

† Timur Kaan, while in this government, invaded Siberia. See Chap. V.

ANCIENT KINGDOM AND CITY OF BANGALLA.

The Mongols were finally victorious, which was attributed to their wearing armour. Their horses being frightened by the elephants, the men dismounted, tied them to trees, and fought on foot. Two hundred elephants, or more, were captured.

From this period, the khan has always employed elephants in his armies, which, before that time, he had not done. The consequences of the victory were, that his Majesty acquired possession of the whole of the territories of the king of Mien and Bangalla, and annexed them to his dominions*.

"The kings of Bangala, in times past, were chosen of the Abyssinian slaves. Chandigan, Aracan, and Siripur are, by Fernandes, placed in Bangala as so many kingdoms. Patenau, by Frederic and Fitch, is reckoned to be another Bengalan kingdom, which our countryman Fitch calleth the kingdom of Gouren; so that, under this name, Bengala, there are many seigniories, all, or most part, subject to the Mogol. (Latter end of the sixteenth century). Goura and Bengala are fair cities+."

The king, (Shah Jehan), sent for his second son, Sultan Sujah, from Candahar to Lahore, and conferred on him the government of the great and little kingdoms of Bengala §."

Vincent Le Blanc visited the city of Bangalla about the middle of the seventeenth century, or earlier. "Leaving Coromandel," says he,

* Marco Polo, B. II. Chapters XXXIX. XLII. and notes. Harris's Voyages, Vol. I. p. 614. In the first is a long and interesting account of this battle.

In 1279 the governor of Bengal revolted from the Patan Emperor Balin, but was defeated, and killed; this was the Great Bengal of which Gour was the capital. See Dow, Vol. I. p. 201; and Hamilton's Gazetteer, " Bengal."

† See in the Courier, Sept. 22, 1824, a letter from the Viceroy of Pegu; in which he represents that Ramoo, Chittagong, and Bengal, form part of the four great cities of Aracan.

Purchas, Vol. I. (B.) pp. 576 and 577. Barclay's Univ. Traveller, p. 495. § Ogilby's Asia, Part I. P. 161.

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