1 88 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE. 



to exercise the same quiet patience which distinguishes 

 the elephant. The paroxysms of rage which Mr. Gordon 

 Gumming describes the African variety as venting upon a 

 harmless bush, or employing in tearing up the earth, have 

 been known to seize those specimens which have been im- 

 ported into England, as the following account of the rhino- 

 ceros, exhibited at Exeter Change, published in the " Philoso- 

 phical Transactions for 1822," will show. " This animal about 

 a month after it came, endeavoured to kill the keeper, and 

 nearly succeeded. It ran at him with the greatest impetuosity, 

 but, fortunately, the horn passed between his thighs, and 

 threw the keeper on its head; the horn came against a 

 wooden partition, into which the animal forced it to such a 

 depth as to be unable for a minute to withdraw it, and, 

 during this interval, the man escaped. Frequently, (more 

 especially in the middle of the night), fits of frenzy came 

 on; and, while these lasted, nothing could control its rage, 

 the rhinoceros running with great swiftness round the den, 

 playing all kinds of antics, making hideous noises, knocking 

 everything to pieces, disturbing the whole neighbourhood, 

 and then, all at once, becoming quiet. While the fit was 

 on, even the keeper durst not make his approach. The 

 animal fell upon its knee to enable the horn to be borne 

 upon any object. It was quick in all its motions, ate vora- 

 ciously all kinds of vegetables, appearing to have no selection. 

 They fed it on branches of willow. Three years' confinement 

 made no alteration in its habits." The rhinoceros is said 

 to live for a hundred years. 



The Hippo- The Hippopotamus introduces the second sub- 

 potamus. order of the hoofed animals, the Artiodactyla, 

 animals having an even number of toes. There is but 

 one genus of the Hippopotamus and two species, the Hippo- 

 potamus of the great n /ers of Southern Africa, and the Liberian 

 Hippopotamus of the West. The Hippotamus is gregarious, 

 congregating in the deep shady pools and on the sandy 



