82 HUNT1JNU AUVENTUKB8. 



full grown, it attains the length of eight or nine feet ; but it does 

 not stand much more than half the height of the elephant. It is 

 a strong and powerful animal a ,d easily excited, in which state it 

 is equally bold and perseveri g in its attacks. What the natural 

 enemies of the rhinoceros may be, it is not easy to say ; though 

 its proneness to make the attack, which has no reference whatever 

 to the finding of its food, would lead us to suppose that this pugna- 

 cious instinct has not been given to it in vain. 



In consequence of its boldness and strength, the hunting of the 

 ihinoceros is one of the most splendid and hazardous of the wild 

 sports of the East. I is to be sought for in the jungles, and is 

 often found in parties of about half a dozen, led on by the biggest 

 of the whole, as is the case with the herds of elephants. In the 

 tall vegetation of the Indian jungle, the sportsmen cannot hunt for 

 this animal unless they are mounted on elephants ; and they find 

 it necessary to go in bands, so that while some of the elephants 

 are receiving the charge of the rhinoceros, the others may take 

 aim and wound them. A single one is said, in the first instance, 

 to seek safety in a retreat into a closer part of the jungle ; but, if 

 again roused, it advances to the attack. Its object appears to be 

 to get at the elephant on the side ; and passing the horn in below 

 it, to wound it in the belly, or fairly rip it open. T^he elephant is 

 also said not to attempt using the tusks, which would not, of 

 course, be able to toss so weighty an animal. What may be 

 done in a state of nature we have no means of knowing, for no- 

 body has recorded, and probably nobody ever saw a battle between 

 a rhinoceros and an elephant in wild nature, nor probably between 

 a rhinoceros and any other creature. But in cases of hunting 

 the elephant does not appear to have any means of warding r.ff 

 the attack ; but wheels round, and receives it on the hinder oart 

 of the body, on which the horn has not much effect in the WP . of 

 laceration ; but the impetus of the animal is such, that it mrls 

 the elephant to the earth ; and this it will continue to <k agdn 

 and again for some time. It is not unlikely that the elephant, if 

 free in wild nature, would continue to receive these attacks till 

 its opponent were exhausted. 



