THE BADAK. 



475 



sometimes attain a beautiful development, more especially the anterior 

 one, which is much longer than the other, slender except at base, and 

 has a graceful curvature backward, more or less decided in different 

 individuals ; the other, or posterior horn, is not placed close behind the 

 first, as in the different two-horned African species, but at a considerable 

 distance from it, and it has a corresponding backward curvature. An 

 anterior horn of this small Rhinoceros in the British Museum measures 

 thirty-two inches along its front, and is seventeen inches in span from 

 base to tip. The posterior horn is very thick, short, and pyramidal. A 

 pair of horns of this species is a beautiful object when carved and polished, 

 and set with the bases upward and on a parallel in a carved black 

 wooden stand, similar to those upon which Chinese metallic mirrors are 

 mounted. The wealthy Chinese give such extravagant prices for fine 

 specimens that they are exceedingly difficult to be got hold of by any one 

 else. A pair upon the head was estimated to be worth twenty-five dol- 

 lars ; and the price, as usual, increases with the size and length to a sum 

 much higher. The natives of Sumatra assert that sometimes a third 

 horn is seen, but this is doubtless such a development as that already 

 mentioned in our description of the Indian Rhinoceros. 



This Rhinoceros has a smooth hide, thinly but conspicuously covered 

 with short, coarse, black hair; there are folds about the neck, a distinct 

 fold behind the fore-quarters, a slight crease before the hind-limbs, but 

 nothing comparable to the coat of mail of the one-horned varieties. 

 The hide is rough, but easily cut with a knife. Both lips are broad and 

 non-prehensile, and the animal therefore grazes rather than browses. 

 The tail terminates in a thin tuft. The head is peculiarly long, the neck 

 short and heavy, and the limbs very clumsy. It is a very quiet creature, 

 and an adult male has been seen to fly in terror from a native wild dog. 



The Asiatic Two-horned Rhinoceros has been supposed, until recently, 

 to be peculiar to the island of Sumatra, as the smaller one-horned Rhi- 

 noceros is to that of Java; but both of them are widely diffused over the 

 Indo-Chinese countries, and throughout the Malayan peninsula, the 

 smaller one-horned being likewise found in Java, and the Asiatic two- 

 horned also in Borneo as well as in Sumatra. The two-horned species 

 has been killed in one of the hill ranges immediately to the southward 

 of the Brahmaputra River, so that its range may be said to extend north- 

 ward into Assam. It is worthy of notice that the full-grown female of 

 this species becomes very speedily tame and tractable. It is probable 



