HUNTING THE INDIAN RHINOCEROS. 8i 



CHAPTER XVII. 



HUNTING THE INDIAN RHINOCEROS. 



T 



HE old name of this the first rhinoceros 

 known to naturalists, was Unicornua, 

 or one-horned ; but the discovery of 

 another with only one horn, and yet 

 with specific difFereices sufficiently 

 marked, rendered this r. ime no longer 

 descriptive as a specific oiie. This 

 powerful animal is not distributed over 

 the breadth of continental India, but 

 confined to the marshy jungles in the lower valleys of the greaf 

 rivers, especially the Granges, and its effluent the Burhampootra 

 The country there has a peculiar character among even Indiar 

 countries. The rains come with both monsoons, the north-east aa 

 well as the south-west, and they come in very great quantity ; so 

 that, for the greater part of the year everywhere, and the whole 

 of it in many places, the country is a swamp ; a swamp whir.h 

 remains under the shade of that most luxuriant vegetation which 

 it produces, despite the great heat of the sun. This is the grand 

 residence of the rhinoceros ; and it points out what must have 

 been the character of vegetation in those places from which the 

 rhinoceros has vanished, when that animal was alive in them. 



The characters of this one are : a single horn on the nose ; the 

 skin is marked with deep furrows or plaits behind the shoulde* * 

 and the thighs ; and there are also deep folds under the throat. 

 The skin is indeed folded and furrowed in many places, as if it 

 were too large for the owner. The hairs on the skin are hard 

 and smooth ; but they are so few, as scarcely to make any appear- 

 ance, excepting a few on the tail and the margins of the ears. 

 The head is short and triangular ; but the nasal bones are well 

 developed, and form a strong vault, on the summit of which the 

 base of the horn rests. The eyes are very small; and there are 

 two strong incisive teeth in each jaw. When in nealth, the skin 



f the animal is blackish grey with a slight tinge of violet When 

 6 



