34 
erected in the form of a triangle, support as many beams | 
placed across them: and from these beams the criminals are 
suspended. It was probably to a gallows of this construction 
that allusion is made in Schiller’s Play of the Robbers, in 
which somebody says, * Maurice, beware of the beast that has 
got three legs.' " 
Thus we see that neither the hurry of military movements, 
nor the proximity of the enemy, could hinder Capt. Car- 
michael from entering immediately upon his scientific 
researches, or availing himself of the hours which might 
justly be devoted to sleep or recreation, in order to become 
acquainted with the productions of the country. From his 
journal we transcribe the following notes on the animals of 
the Cape. | 
* The African Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros bicornis) differs from 
that of Asia, in having two horns instead of one. Its hide is 
smooth, likewise, and free from wrinkles. Of the hide of - 
the Rhinoceros and Hippopotamus, the boors manufacture a . 
sort of horsewhip, known by the name of Shambok. They 
first of all cut the hide into long slips, three inches in breadth, 
which are hung up, with a heavy weight appended to them. 
When thoroughly stretched and dry, these slips are again cut 
into three divisions, then tapered and rounded with a plane, 
and the polish given with a piece of glass, which renders 
them semi-transparent like horn. The horns of the Rhino- 
ceros are solid. When turned in the lathe, and fashioned — 
into drinking-cups, the article is held in high repute among _ 
the colonists as an infallible detector of poison. They firmly — 
believe, according to the ancient creed, that if any noxious — 
fluid were poured into a cup of this description, it would — 
instantly foam and boil over the brim. 
© Of all the quadrupeds that prey upon birds, the Rate, — 
(Viverra mellivora) a species of Ursus, according to Mr. — 
Burchell, is perhaps the most destructive. When I was at — 
Algoa Bay, Capt. Lawrence and Dr. Ingham, my next-door — 
neighbours, amused themselves with breeding poultry. AS _ 
their hen-roosts happened to stand contiguous, the fowls — 
used to lay their eggs indiscriminately in that which was — 
