The Descent of Man

opes. Under such circumstances elephants will
seize with their trunks any object, dead or alive,
to place under their knees, to prevent their sinking
deeper in the mud; and the driver was
dreadfully afraid lest the animal should have
seized Dr. Hooker and crushed him to death.
But the driver himself, as Dr. Hooker was assured,
ran no risk. This forbearance under an
emergency so dreadful for a heavy animal, is a
wonderful proof of noble fidelity. (18. See also
Hooker's 'Himalayan Journals,' vol. ii. 1854, p.
333.)
All animals living in a body, which defend
themselves or attack their enemies in concert,
must indeed be in some degree faithful to one
another; and those that follow a leader must be
in some degree obedient. When the baboons in
Abyssinia (19. Brehm, 'Thierleben,' B. i. s. 76.)
plunder a garden, they silently follow their
leader; and if an imprudent young animal makes
a noise, he receives a slap from the others to