86 ANIMAL SKETCHES. CHAP. vi. 



creatures together. We shall find plenty of material for 

 study. Among the horned creatures, apart from the 

 rhinoceros with horns on its nose, we shall note the com- 

 paratively heavily-built oxen, the bison, or so-called 

 buffalo of North America, with his cousin the aurochs of 

 Europe, and the true buffalo of the Cape, the heavy horns 

 of which meet base to base over the brow ; we shall see 

 the stupid-eyed sheep and the goats of offensive odour. 

 Poor things, they are suffering for their importunity. For 

 the natives of New Guinea, where they abound, tell us 

 that they pestered a certain goddess to be allowed to 

 anoint themselves with the sweet-scented aromatic oint- 

 ment she used at her own toilet; but she, offended at 

 their request, rubbed them with a nasty nauseous grease, 

 the unpleasant smell of which they and their descendants 

 retain to the present day. We shall see, too, the timid 

 gazelles, the delicate-horned antelopes, and the clumsy 

 gnu, a very clown among horned cattle, whose snort is a 

 poor imitation of the lion's roar, and who scampers over 

 the plains like a skittish donkey. 



Such are some of the animals whose brows are orna- 

 mented with horns. In most cases both males and 

 females bear a pair of these singular and beautiful appen- 

 dages, but sometimes the female is hornless, and 

 occasionally, as in the four-horned antelope, there are two 

 pairs. No matter at what time of the year you visit 

 them the horns are there ; they persist throughout 

 life, and increase in size and strength. And when the 

 animal dies and the flesh is stripped from the bones, 

 the horn may be taken from the skull, and is then 

 found to be a hollow sheath, which is moulded on an 

 internal bony core growing out from the brow-bones of 

 the skull. 



I said that the horns persist throughout life and are 



