THE RHINOCEROS OF JAVA. 99 



" The animal rapidly increased in size : in the year 1817, 

 having been confined at Surakarta about nine or ten months, 

 the dimensions, as already stated, were nine feet in length, 

 and four feet three inches in height at the rump. In 1821 it 

 had acquired the height of five feet seven inches. This in- 

 formation I received from my friend Mr. Stavers, who is now 

 in England, on a visit from the interior of Java ; and he fa- 

 voured me further with the following detail, which completes 

 the history of 7 the individual whose figure is annexed to this 

 article- Having considerably increased in size, the ditch of 

 three feet in breadth was insufficient for confining it ; but 

 leaving the inclosure, it frequently passed to the dwellings of 

 the natives, destroying the plantations of fruit-trees and culi- 

 nary vegetables which always surround them. It likewise 

 terrified those natives that accidentally met with it, and who 

 were unacquainted with its appearance and habits. But it 

 showed no ill-natured disposition, and readily allowed itself 

 to be driven back to the inclosure, like a buffalo. The ex- 

 cessive excavations which it made by continually wallowing 

 in the mire, and the accumulation of putrefying vegetable 

 matter, in the process of time became offensive at the en- 

 trance of the palace, and its removal was ordered by the em- 

 peror to a small village near the confines of the capital, where 

 in the year 1821 it was accidently drowned in a rivulet. 



" The rhinoceros lives gregarious in many parts of Java. 

 It is not limited to a peculiar region or climate, but its range 

 extends from the level of the ocean to the summit of moun- 

 tains of considerable elevation. I noticed it at Tangling, 

 near the confines of the Southern Ocean, in the districts of 

 the native princes, and on the sumniit of the high peaks of 

 the Priangan Regencies ; but it prefers high situations. It 

 is not generally distributed, but is tolerably numerous in cir- 

 cumscribed spots, distant from the dwellings of man, and 

 covered with a profuse vegetation. On the whole, it is more 

 abundant in the western than in the eastern districts of the 

 island. Its retreats are discovered by deeply excavated pas- 

 sages, which it forms along the declivities of mountains and 

 hills. I found these occasionally of great depth and extent. 



" In its manners, the rhinoceros of Java is comparatively 

 mild. It is not unfrequently met in the wilds by Europeans 

 and by natives. No instance of its showing a disposition to 

 make an attack has come to my knowledge; — being the largest 

 animal in Java, its passions are not roused, as in many parts 

 of India, by contentions with the elephant. It is rarely seen 

 in a domestic state, but it is occasionally decoyed into pits, 

 and destroyed. Our animal rambles chiefly at night, and 



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