It Is In Vain To Think Of Escape By Running, Let
The Person Be Ever So Swift, In Case The Elephant Pursues In Earnest, As
His Strides Are Of Prodigious Length.
They are more dangerous when they
have young ones in their company than at any other time; of which the
females have only, three or four at a birth.
They feed on the leaves and
fruit of trees, pulling down the large boughs with their trunks, and
bringing them to their mouths. This trunk is composed of a very thick
cartilage, and is pliable in every direction.
There are many kinds of birds in this country, and parrots are
particularly numerous, which are much hated by the negroes, because they
do much damage to their crops of pulse and millet. There are said to be
several kinds of parrots, but I never saw more than two. One of these is
like the kind which is brought into Italy from Alexandria in Egypt, but
rather smaller. The other kind is much larger, having a brown head, neck,
bill, and legs, with a yellow and green body. I procured a considerable
number of both sorts, particularly of the smaller kind, many of which
died; but I brought 150 back to Portugal, where I sold them for half a
ducat each. These birds are very industrious in constructing their nests,
which they build with bulrushes and the small leaves of the palm, and
other trees, in a very curious and ingenious manner.
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