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 {Mhitioceros hicornis) 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 Shamhok. 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 Ratel, 

 [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 



