1 86 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



different from and much larger than the typical 

 Sumatran specimen obtained later in the year ; and, 

 although anatomical points could not be settled till 

 after death, the animal was prized as a great 

 rarity, being the only hairy-eared rhinoceros 

 known. 1 



In 1882 Begum Latifa Khatum presented to the 

 Calcutta Zoological Gardens the second known 

 specimen of the hairy-eared rhinoceros. Some 

 peasants working in paddy fields near Chittagong 

 had noticed an unknown animal come out of the 

 jungle into the fields, and mentioned it to a shikaree, 

 who applied to the Begum for assistance to capture 

 the animal. A crowd armed with sticks then 

 surrounded the hill to which the beast had retired, 

 and the shikaree having climbed a tree, made out 

 that the animal was a rhinoceros. Noosed ropes were 

 then tied to the branches of the trees, so that 

 in a short time the animal became entangled. 

 The rhinoceros having torn the ropes from their 

 fastenings, rushed off with them trailing after 

 it ; but fell into a muddy hollow, and was 

 promptly secured and dragged into a neighbouring 

 village. The animal soon became tame, and the 

 children of the Zenana used to ride on its back. 

 This individual was a female ; her consort was seen 



1. About this time the Hamburg Zoological Society acquired a small 

 rhinoceros about two years old, which may have belonged to the hairy- 

 eared variety. This individual was as big as a small horse, and very 

 tame ; it is said that it would allow one to place one's hand in its mouth 

 and take it out again. 



