RHINOCEROS RHODE ISLAND. 



863 



RHINOCEROS. This is a large animal, belong- 

 ing 1 to the order of pachydermata, having each foot 

 divided into three toes, and furnished with one or 

 more horns on the snout. There are several spe- 

 cies, the best known of which are the Indian, or 

 one-horned, and the African, or two-horned. 



One-horned rhinoceros. This species is a native 

 of India, particularly of that part beyond the Gan- 

 ges. It is a clumsy and deformed looking animal: 

 a single black horn, placed near the end of the 

 nose, makes its specific character. The upper lip 

 is very large, and overhangs the lower : it is fur- 

 nished with strong muscles, and is employed by the 

 animal somewhat as the elephant uses his trunk. 

 The ears are large, erect, and pointed. The skin 

 is naked, rough, and extremely thick; about the 

 neck it is gathered into large folds ; a fold also 

 extends between the shoulders and fore legs, and 

 another from the hinder part of the back to the 

 thighs. The tail is slender, flat at the end, and 

 furnished at the sides with very stiff", black hairs. 

 The legs are very short. This animal was well 

 known to the ancients, and was introduced into the 

 games of the circus by Pompey; in all probability 

 it is the reem (unicorn) of the Bible. From the 

 time of the fall of the Roman empire, however, it 

 was lost sight of so completely, that, prior to the 

 sixteenth century, naturalists were of opinion that 

 it had never existed, or, if so, that it was extinct. 

 When the Portuguese, however, doubled the cape 

 of Good Hope, and opened the way to India, these 

 animals again became known, and many were 

 introduced into Europe. The first that appeared 

 in England was in 1684. The rhinoceros lives in 

 shady forests adjoining rivers, or in the swampy 

 jungles with which its native country abounds. 

 Though possessed of great strength, and more than 

 a match for either the tiger or the elephant, it is 

 quiet and inoffensive unless provoked. The female 

 produces one at a birth. The growth of the young 

 is very gradual, as, at the age of two years, it 

 scarcely attains half its height. The sight of the 

 rhinoceros is by no means acute, but, on the con- 

 trary, its senses of smelling and hearing are very 

 vivid. Its chief food is canes and shrubs. It was 

 for a long time supposed that the tongue was hard 

 and exceedingly rough ; but recent observations 

 have shown that it does not present these peculiar- 

 ities. The flesh somewhat resembles pork in taste, 

 though of a coarser grain and stronger taste. 



Two-horned rhinoceros. This species is a native 

 of Africa, and resembles the preceding in many 

 particulars, but differs in being provided with an 

 additional horn, of a smaller size, situated nearer the 

 forehead ; the skin also is not thrown into the folds, 

 so remarkable in the Indian species; at least, this 

 is the account given by Sparrman, whilst Bruce 

 represents it as having them. The two-horned 

 rhinoceros was better known to the ancients than 

 the last-mentioned kind, and is represented on 

 many of their coins, especially those of Domitian. 

 The rhinoceros is greatly inferior to the elephant 

 in docility, and has never been made sociable to 

 man. The skin is used for whips and walking- 

 canes, and of the horns drinking cups were made, 

 which were highly esteemed by the East Indians, as 

 they imagined that if poison were put into them, 

 the liquor would ferment till it ran out of the ves- 

 sel. Martial informs us, that Roman ladies used 

 these horns as cases to hold their essence bottles 

 and oils. The skin of the rhinoceros is also used 

 by the Javanese for shields. 



' IIHINOPLASTIC (from ^., the nose, and *)..<,- 

 TI*, the art of forming). The art of restoring the 

 tto>e, when lost by disease or external injury. v\;i> 



early practised in India by the Bramins, and is even 

 now practised by the descendants of this caste, th 

 Coomas, by means of a piece of skin cut from th 

 forehead. In 1442, Branca, a Sicilian physician, oper- 

 ated by means of a piece of skin cut 'from the arm of 

 the individual; and after him, tin's method was pre- 

 served in the family of the Bajani as a secret, until 

 Caspar Tagliacozzi (born in 154(5, died in 1599) 

 practised it in Bologna, and made it public in 1597. 

 He pursued the method of taking the skin from the 

 arm. This method was last practised by Molinetti, 

 in the beginning of the seventeenth century, in 

 1816, Grafe, a German physician, attempted the 

 formation of the nose from the skin of the arm upon 

 a young soldier who had lost his nose by a sabre, 

 cut. The method differed but little from that of 

 Tagliacozzi. See Grafe's Rhinoplustic (Berlin, 

 1818, quarto). 



RHODE ISLAND, one of the United States of 

 America, includes what was formerly known by the 

 name of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations ; 

 it originally consisted of two plantations, or pro- 

 vinces. This state is bounded north and east by 

 Massachusetts, south by the Atlantic ocean, and 

 west by Connecticut ; length, forty-nine miles ; 

 breadth, twenty-nine ; square miles, 1350 ; popula- 

 tion in 1810, 76,931; in 1820, 83,059, including 

 forty-eight slaves ; in 1830, 97,212, including four- 

 teen slaves ; lat. 41 22' to 42 3' N.; Ion. 71 6' 

 to 71 38' VV. In the north-west part of the state, 

 the country is hilly and rocky, but in other parts it 

 is mostly level. The soil is better adapted to graz- 

 ing than tillage, except on the island of Rhode 

 Island, which has an excellent soil, adapted to the 

 growth of every thing that is suited to its climate. 

 A considerable part of the state has a thin soil, and 

 affords small crops of New England productions ; 

 but the country near Narraganset bay is generally 

 very fertile. Great numbers of cattle and sheep 

 are produced on the islands, and on the margin of 

 the bay ; and butter and cheese, cider, many kinds 

 of fruit, corn, rye, barley, and oats are produced in 

 abundance. The rivers and bays afford a great 

 variety of excellent fish. Iron in abundance, small 

 quantities of copper, limestone, and a mine of an- 

 thracite, are the minerals and fossils that have 

 hitherto been found. The rivers are the Pawtucket, 

 Providence, and Pawtuxet. Narraganset bay ex- 

 tends from south to north through nearly the whole 

 length of the state, and embosoms Rhode Island, 

 Connecticut, Prudence, Patience, Hope, Dyer's, 

 and Hog islands. Block island, in the Atlantic, 

 south of the state is the most southerly land belong- 

 ing to it. The exports of Rhode island consist 

 principally of flax-seed, lumber, horses, cattle, beef, 

 pork, fish, poultry, and cotton and linen goods. Its 

 manufactures have greatly increased within the last 

 ten years, and add greatly to its wealth. The value 

 of its exports of domestic produce, during the year 

 ending September, 30, 1829, was 337,468 dollars, 

 [ts tonnage in 1828 was 43,406. Since these periods, 

 the commerce of the state has rapidly increased. 

 The commercial and manufacturing interests of 

 Rhode island are principally centred in Providence. 

 This has become one of the most important cities of 

 New England, and contains now about one-fifth of 

 the population of the state. Newport is somewhat 

 less than half the size of Providence, and the other 

 towns are not large. The general assembly of 

 Rhode Island meets four times in a year : at New- 

 port on the first Wednesday of May, which is the 

 commencement of the political year, and again at 

 the same place in June ; in October, it meets 

 alternately at Providence and South Kingston; 

 and in January at East Greenwich, Bristol, or Pro- 



