RHINOCEROS. 



RHINOCEROS. 



599 



health, from the time of its arrival and from the first growth of the 

 horn constantly employed itself in rubbing it down, so as to pre- 

 vent its proper increase. 



It. Javanus (Cuvier) has one horn ; folds of the neck obsolete ; 

 scutules of the skin angled at the margin, concave in the middle, and 

 furnished with a few short bristles ; margin of the ears and under side 

 of the tail hairy. 



Lliinoceroi Javanta. (F. Cuvier.) 



Dr. Horsfield, who had an opportunity during his residence at 

 Surakarta, the capital of the Javenese empire, of examining an indi- 

 vidual taken during infancy and kept in confinement, or rather in a 

 state of domestication, gives a good figure of it, observing that the 

 drawing from which the plate is taken, though deficient in some 

 points that the skilful pencil of Mr. Darnell would have supplied from 

 the living animal, exhibits, with scrupulous accuracy, its form and 

 proportions. In 1817 thia individual measured nine feet in length, 

 and was four feet three inches high at the rump ; and Dr. Horsfield 

 remarks that the Rhinoceros figured by F. Cuvier (of which a reduced 

 copy i given above), which was brought to Europe from the British 

 possessions in India, was higher in proportion to its length, and its 

 form was more unwieldy, the entire length being seven feet, and the 

 height four feet ten inches. The head of the animal seen by Dr. 

 Horsfield was strongly attenuated to the muzzle, and had a triangular 

 form ; the flexible lip was considerably lengthened, and the sides of 

 the head were marked with protuberances or scutula, resembling 

 those on the body, but no great roughnesses or folds were apparent. 

 The marks of distinction afforded by the folds of the external covering 

 were less evident than those afforded by the form of the body and the 

 attenuated head ; but the folds on the whole appeared less rough or 

 prominent than ifl R. Indicia. 



This animal is gregarious in many parts. Dr. Horsfield states that 

 it is not limited to a particular region or climate, but that its range 

 extends from the level of the ocean to the summit of mountains 

 of considerable elevation. Dr. Horafield noticed it at Tangung, near 

 the confines of the Southern Ocean, in the districts of the native 

 princcR, and on the summit of the high peaks of the Priangan regencies. 

 It prefers high situations. 



The domesticated individual above alluded to by Dr. Horsfield was 

 taken while very young, in the forests of the province of Keddu, and 

 was conveyed to the residency at Magellan, in the year 1815 or 1816. 

 By kind treatment it soon became domesticated to such a degree, that 

 it permitted itself to be carried, in a large vehicle resembling a cart, 

 to the capital of Surakarta. " I saw it," says the Doctor, " during its 

 conveyance, and found it perfectly mild and tractable. At Surakarta 

 it was confined in the large area or square which bounds the entrance 

 to the royal residence. A deep ditch, about three feet wide, limited 

 its range, and for several years it never attempted to pass it. It was 

 perfectly reconciled to its confinement, and never exhibited any 

 symptoms of uneasiness or rage, although on its first arrival harassed 

 in various ways by a large proportion of the inhabitants of a populous 

 capital, whose curiosity induced them to inspect the stranger of the 

 forest. Branches of trees, shrubs, and various twining plants were 

 abundantly provided for its food ; of these the species of Onus and 

 the small twigs of a native fig-tree were preferred. But plantains 

 were the most favourite food, and the abundant manner hi which it 

 was supplied with these by the numerous visitors tended greatly to 

 make the animal mild and sociable. It allowed itself to be examined 

 and handled freely, and the more daring of the visitors sometimes 

 mounted on its back. It required copious supplies of water, and, 

 when not taking food, or intentionally roused by the natives, it gene- 

 rally placed itself in the large excavations which its movements soon 

 catwed in the soft earth that covered the allotted space. Having 

 considerably increased in size, the ditch of three feet in breadth was 

 insufficient for confining it, but, leaving the inclosure, it frequently 

 passed to the dwellings of the natives, destroying the plantations of 

 fruit-trees and culinary vegetables which always surround them. It 

 likewise terrified those natives that accidently met with it, and who 

 were unacquainted with its appearance and habits. But it showed 



no ill-natured disposition, and readily allowed itself to be driven back 

 to the inclosure, like a Buffalo. The excessive excavations which it 

 made by continually wallowing in tho mire, and the accumulation of 

 putrefying vegetable matter, in process of time became offensive at 

 the entrance of the palace, and its removal was ordered by the emperor 

 to a small village near the confines of the capital, where, in the year 

 1821, it was accidentally drowned in a rivulet." (' Zoological Researches 

 in Java,') 



This species is the Warak of the Javanese, the Badak of the Malays 

 and of the inhabitants of the western parts of Java. (Horsfield, 

 ' Zoological Researches in Java.') 



Marsden, in his ' History of Sumatra,' states that the Rhinoceros, 

 Badak, both that with a single horn and that with a double horn, are 

 natives of the woods. He adds that he does " not know anything to 

 warrant the stories told of the mutual antipathy and the desperate 

 encounters of these two enormous beasts." The horn, he adds, is 

 esteemed an antidote against poison, and on that account formed into 

 drinking-cups. 



R. Sumatrensis, Cuv. (R. Sumalrania, Raffles), has four great 

 incisors, as in the two preceding species, but hardly any folds on the 

 skin, which is hairy ; a second horn behind the ordinary one. 



The first satisfactory indication of the existence of this species 

 occurs in Pennant, who imagined that the two-horned species of 

 Sumatra was identical with R. bicornii, the only African species then 

 known. He quotes the following remark of Mr. Charles Miller, who 

 was long resident hi Sumatra : " I never saw but two of the two- 

 horned Rhinoceros; but I believe they are not uncommon in the 

 island, but are very shy, which is the reason they are but seldom 

 seen. I was once within twenty yards of one. It had not any appear- 

 ance of folds or plaits on the skin ; and had a similar horn resembling 

 the greater, and, like that, a little turned inward. The figure given 

 by Dr. Span-man is a faithful resemblance of that I saw." 



The hide is rugose, covered with scattered stiff brown hairs ; folds 

 on the shoulders and croup but slightly marked ; the skin generally 

 rather delicate, and nearly without folds; head rather elongated; 

 eyes small and brown ; upper lip pointed and curved downwards ; 

 ears small and pointed, fringed with black short hairs ; first horn bent 

 backwards, second smooth and pyramidal, placed a little in front of 

 the eyes. 



It is a native of Sumatra. 



Rhinoceros Sumatrentli. (F. Cuvier.) 



R. Africanus, Cuv. (R. licornis, Linn.), is of a pale yellow brown ; 

 horns unequal in length ; neck surrounded with a furrow at the setting 

 on of the head ; eyes brown. Length 10 feet 11 inches. (Smith.) 



The hide is pale yellowish-brown, with tints of purple upon the 

 sides of the head and muzzle; the groins flesh-coloured ; eyes dark 

 brown ; the horns livid-brown clouded with green ; the hairs on the 

 tip of the tail and the margins of the ears deep black. 



Sparrman, in his description, exposes the errors of Buffon regarding 

 both this species and R. Indicus ; especially the opinion that the 

 copulation of the latter takes place croupe a croupe. His poetical 

 fancies too touching the impenetrable nature of the skin are freely and 

 justly dealt with by the same learned Swede, who ordered one of his 

 Hottentots to make a trial of this with his hassagai on one of those 

 which had been shot. Though this weapon was far from being in 

 good order, and had no other sharpness than that it had received from 

 the forge, the Hottentot, at the distance of five or six paces, not only 

 pierced with it the thick hide of the animal, but buried it half a foot 

 deep in its body. 



Dr. Smith remarks that the present species, under the name of 

 Rhinoster, has been familiarly known to the colonists of the Cape of 

 Good Hope ever since 1652. In that year, when the Dutch first 

 formed their settlement on the shores of Table Bay, this animal, he 

 observes, was a regular inhabitant of the thickets which clothed the 

 lower slopes of Table Mountain. He states that, like the Keitloa, 

 this species feeds upon brushwood and the smaller branches of dwarf 

 trees, from which circumstance it is invariably found frequenting 

 wooded districts, and in those situations its course may often bo 

 traced by the mutilations of the bushes. " As it feeds but slowly, 

 says Dr. Smith, " and besides passes much of its time in idleness, it 



