574 



Crcn^ury at Natural ^ 



it to thin pieces, like so many laths ; and 

 when he has thus prepared it, he embraces 

 as much of it as he can in his monstrous 

 jaws, and twists it round with as much ease 

 as an ox would do a root of celery. When 

 pursued, and in fear, he possesses an asto- 

 nishing degree of swiftness, considering his 

 size, the apparent unwieldiness of his body, 

 his great weight before, and the shortness of 

 his legs. He is long, and has a kind of trot, 

 which, after a few minutes, increases in a 

 great proportion, and takes in a great dis- 

 tance ; but this is to be understood with a 

 degree of moderation. It is not true that in 

 a plain he beats the horse in swiftness. I 

 have passed him with ease, and seen many 

 worse mounted do the same; and though it 

 is true that a horse can seldom come up with 

 him, this is owing to his cunning, and not 

 Lis swiftness. He makes constantly from 

 wood to wood, and forces himself into the 

 thickest part of them. The trees that are 

 frush, or dry, are broke down, like as with a 

 cannon shot, and fall behind him and on 

 his sides in all directions. Others that are 

 more pliable, greener, or fuller of sap, are 

 bent back by his weight and the velocity 

 of his motions. And, after he has passed, 

 restoring themselves like a green branch to 

 their natural position, they sweep the in- 

 cautious pursuer and his horse from the 

 the ground, and dasli them in pieces against 

 the surrounding trees. The eyes of the Rhi- 

 noceros are very small, and he seldom turns 

 his head, and therefore sees nothing but what 

 is before him. To this he owes his death, 

 and never escapes if there is so much plain 

 as to enable the horse to get before him. 

 His pride and fury, then, make him lay 

 aside all thoughts of escaping, but by victory 

 over his enemy. He stands for a moment at 

 bay, then, at a start, runs forward at the 

 horse, like the wild boar, whom, in his man- 

 ner of action, he very much resembles. The 

 horse easily avoids him, by turning short 

 aside ; and this is the fatal instant : the 

 naked man, with the sword, drops from be- 

 hind the principal horseman, and, unseen 

 by the Rhinoceros, who is seeking his enemy, 

 the horse, he gives him a stroke across the 

 tendon of the heel, which renders him in- 

 capable of further flight or resistance." 



Another species of Rhinoceros, less power- 

 ful and savage, is found in Java ; of this 

 we figure the skull, which will serve also to 

 illustrate the structure of the head ; a third, 

 which possesses two horns, in Sumatra ; and 



three species are said to be known in Africa : 

 but the most formidable are those we have 



I described. The skin of the Rhinoceros is an 

 article in great demand in several countries 

 of Asia and Africa. It is manufactured into 

 the best and hardest leather that can be 

 imagined; and targets and shields are made 

 of it, that are proof against even the stroke 

 of a scimitar. When polished, the skin is 

 very similar in appearance to tortoise shell. 

 Their Jiorns are manufactured into drinking 

 cups, the hilts of swords, and snuff-boxes, by 

 several oriental nations ; and in the palmy 

 days of ancient Rome, we are told, the ladies 

 of fashion used them in their baths, to hold 

 their essence bottles and oils. 



In M. de Blainville's great work on the 

 Osteography of the Vertebratae, he admits 

 five living species as indisputable ; two of 

 which are African the black rhinoceros of 

 the Cape (R. Woorsfc), and the white rhino- 

 ceros of Southern Africa, first distinguished 

 by Dr. Burchell (7i. simtts) ; three are 

 Asiatic the Rhinoceros of India (R. uni- 

 cornis), the rhinoceros of Java, with one 

 horn (_R. Javanus'), and that of Sumatra, 

 with two horns (R. Sumatramts). Dr. An- 

 drew Smith discovered a third species, dis- 

 tinguished, among other peculiarities, by the 

 great length of the second horn. This is the 

 Rhinoceros Kttloa, described by that distin- 

 guished naturalist ; a fine specimen of it 

 exists in the collection of the British Mu- 

 seum. Some accounts would likewise lead 

 us to believe in the existence of a rhinoceros 

 in Africa with one horn, which would form 

 another species to be added to the preceding. 

 A?nong the fossil rhinoceroses, M. de 

 Blainville admits but three European spe- 

 cies as certain. The first is the rhinoceros 

 with partitioned nostrils (R. tichorhimts). 

 This species, destitute of incisors, had three 

 toes on each foot, the cranium elongated, 

 the nostrils separated by a bony partition ; 

 its nose was provided with two horns ; its 

 molars approached those of the Rhinoceros 

 camus; its bones were short and strong, 

 and its body covered with hair. On this 

 subject he remarks, that these hairs have 

 sometimes been erroneously described as 

 forming a long and thick fur, but at most 

 they did not exceed three lines in length. 

 R. tifhorhinus is found in the deposits fonned 

 during the diluvian epoch. It is probable 

 that it inhabited Siberia, and the greater 

 part of Europe. This is the species which 

 has been found preserved in the ice of the 

 North of Asia. The second species is the 

 rhinoceros with nostrils not partitioned 

 (R. leptorhinus\ which had persistent in- 

 cisors, but concealed in the gums, three toes 

 on each foot, two horns, an elongated cra- 

 nium, and slender bones. This species, 

 which is not so well characterized as the 

 preceding, has been found chiefly in the 



I superior tertiaries of Italy and the south of 

 France. M. de Blainville likewise refers 

 the bones found in caverns in the south of 

 France to 7?. tichorhinus, while those of the 

 north and of Belgium contain only the re- 

 mains of the preceding species. The third 

 species is the rhinoceros with incisors (H. 

 i/tcisiviis}, characterized by half salient in- 

 cisors in the two jaws, four toes on the an- 

 terior feet, flat metatarsi, &c. It would 



