380 FLESH AND HORNS OF THE EHINOCEROS. 



of confinement. Three or four specimens are at the present 

 day alive in England. 



The flesh of the rhinoceros varies greatly in quality. That 

 of the "black" species, from its leanness, and the animal 

 feeding on the " wait-a-bit" thorn bushes, which gives it an 

 acrid and bitter flavor, is not over-esteemed. That of the 

 white, on the other hand, whose sustenance consists of grass, 

 which imparts to it an agreeable taste, coupled with its usu- 

 al fatness, is greatly sought after by natives and colonists. 

 Indeed, the flesh of this animal seems always to have been 

 in repute in the Cape Colony. Kolben, when speaking of it, 

 says, " The flesh of a rhinoceros, which I have often eaten 

 with a great deal of satisfaction, is not so sinewy as some 

 writers have represented." 



The horns of the rhinoceros, which are capable of a high 

 polish, are a valuable article of commerce. At the Cape 

 this commodity fetches half as much as ordinary elephant 

 ivory. It is extensively used in the manufacture of sword- 

 handles, drinking-cups, ramrods for rifles, and a variety of 

 other j3urposes. In Turkey the rhinoceros horn is much es- 

 teemed, more especially such as have a reddish tint about 

 the grain. These, when made into cups, the Tm'ks believe 

 to have the virtue of detecting poison. 



"The horns of the rhinoceros," says Thunberg, "were 

 kept by some people, both in town and country, not only as 

 rarities, but also as useful in diseases, and for the purpose of 

 detecting poison. As to the former of these intentions, the 

 fine shavings of the horns taken internally were supposed to 

 cure convulsions and spasms in children. "With respect to 

 the latter, it was generally believed that goblets made of these 

 horns in a turner's lathe would discover a poisonous draft 

 that was put into them by making the liquor ferment till it 

 ran quite out of the goblet. Such horns as were taken from 

 a rhinoceros calf were said to be the best, and the most to be 

 depended upon." 



