NOTE -BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 49 



was half-forced, lialf-coaxed round, and when his head 

 was turned towards the entrance, he swam thither till he 

 found footing, and then walked out. 



His muscular power was prodigious. The iron railing 

 of the enclosure was strengthened by great iron spurs at 

 regular distances. He would insert the anterior part of 

 his enormous head between the spur and the upright, 

 and then give powerful lateral wrenches till he fairly- 

 prized it off. Once he got out, and, without doing 

 further mischief, terminated his ramblings with a ^^as 

 seul in a bed of scarlet geraniums : the condition of tffe 

 parterre after the performance may be imagined. He 

 was then secured, and led back to his place of confine- 

 ment. 



There was a tortoise-like look about him that was 

 very striking. The curiously-formed upper lip, the testu- 

 dinous look of his thick armour-like skin, his legs and 

 feet, all favoured the notion of a huge warm-blooded 

 creature made after the pattern of the cold-blooded 

 testudinata, with improvements. For he was active in 

 his way, and when excited his rush was terrific. The 

 noise of the roller, when the gardeners were rolling the 

 gravel-walk that flanks the place where he was suffered 

 to go at large, had the most exciting effect upon him. 

 He would be standing perfectly still at the further end 

 of the enclosure, and the moment he heard the noise of 

 the roller in motion, round he would turn, and rush 

 down towards it in a rampant state, till he was brought 

 up by the strong iron railing, which those who saw these 

 paroxysms began to think must go down like reeds 

 before him. 



If we have no immediate prospect of beholding the 

 living forms of the African species of this genus, we have 

 a very fair chance of soon seeing the two other pachy- 

 derms mentioned above ; and a slight sketch of their 

 habits and history may not come amiss to those who are 



