In descending or ascending these places, the elephant a always describes a zigzag, and thus lessens the abruptness of the inclination.
Their immense weight acting on their broad feet, bordered by sharp horny toes, cuts away the side of the hill at every stride and forms a level step; thus they are enabled to skirt the sides of precipitous hills and banks with comparative case.

The trunk is the wonderful monitor of all danger to an elephant, from whatever cause it may proceed.

This may arise from the approach of man or from the character of the country; in either case the trunk exerts its power; in one by the acute sense of smell, in the other by the combination of the sense of scent and touch.

In dense jungles, where the elephant cannot see a yard before him, the sensitive trunk feels the hidden way, and when the roaring of waterfalls admonishes him of the presence of ravines and precipices, the never-failing trunk lowered upon the around keeps him advised of every inch of his path.
Nothing is more difficult than to induce a tame elephant to cross a bridge which his sagacity assures him is insecure; he will sound it with his trunk and press upon it with one foot, but he will not trust his weight if he can perceive the slightest vibration.
Their power of determining whether bogs or the mud at the bottom of tanks are deep or shallow is beyond my comprehension.

Although I have seen elephants in nearly every position, I have never seen one inextricably fixed in a swamp.