

THE RHINOCEROS. 



425 



an elephant, were discovered at the depth 

 of forty-two yards in a lead-mine in Flint- 

 shire." 



The tusks of the Mammoth, so often found 

 fossil in Siberia, and which are converted to 

 the purposes of ivory, are generally supposed 

 to belong to the elephant : however, the ani- 

 mal must have been much larger in that coun- 

 try than it is found at present, as those tusks 

 are often known to weigh four hundred pounds; 

 while those that come from Africa seldom ex- 

 ceed two hundred and fifty. These enormous 

 tusks are found lodged in the sandy banks of 

 the Siberian rivers ; and the natives pretend 

 that they belong to an animal which is four 

 times as large as the elephant. 



There have lately been discovered several 

 enormous skeletons, five or six feet beneath the 

 surface, on the banks of the Ohio, not remote 

 from the river Miume, in America, seven hun- 

 dred miles from the-sea coast. Some of the 

 tusks are near seven feet long ; one foot nine 

 inches in circumference at the base, and one 

 foot near the point ; the cavity at the root or 

 base, nineteen inches deep. Besides their 

 size, there are yet other differences : the tusks 

 of the true elephant have sometimes a very 



slight lateral bend ; these have a larger twist, 

 or spiral curve, towards the smaller end : but 

 the great and specific difference consists in the 

 shape of the grinding teeth ; which, in these 

 newly found, are fashioned like the teeth of a 

 carnivorous animal ; not flat and ribbed trans- 

 versely on their surface, like those of the 

 modern elephant, but furnished with a double 

 row of high and conic processes, as if intended 

 to masticate, not to grind their food. A third 

 difference is in the thigh-bone, which is of a 

 great disproportionable thickness to that of 

 the elephant ; and has also some other anato- 

 mical variations. These fossil bones have 

 been also found in Peru and the Brazils ; and, 

 when cut and polished by the workers in ivory, 

 appear, in every respect, similar. It is the 

 opinion of Dr. Hunter, that they must have 

 belonged to a larger animal than the elephant ; 

 and differing from it, in being carnivorous. 

 But as yet this formidable creature has evaded 

 our search ; and, if indeed, such an animal 

 exists, it is happy for man that it keeps at a dis- 

 tance; since what ravage might not be expect- 

 ed from a creature, endued with more than the 

 strength of the elephant, and all the rapacity 

 of the tiger ! 



CHAPTER LX. 



OF THE RHINOCEROS. 



NEXT to the elephant, the Rhinoceros is 

 the most powerful of animals. It is usually 

 found twelve feet long, from the tip of the nose 

 to the insertion of the tail ; from six to seven 

 feet high ; and the circumference of its body 

 is nearly equal to its length. It is, therefore, 

 equal to the elephant in bulk : and if it ap- 

 pears much smaller to the eye, the reason is, 

 that its legs are much shorter. Words can 

 convey but a very confused idea of this ani- 

 mal's slmpe ; and yet there are few so re- 

 markably formed : its head is furnished with 

 a horn, growing from the snout, sometimes 

 three feet and a half long ; and but for this, 

 that part would have the appearance of the 



Pennant's Synopsis, p. 90. 



head of a hog ; the upper lip, however, is 

 much longer in proportion, ends in a point, is 

 very pliable, serves to collect its food, and de- 

 liver it into the mouth : the ears are large, 

 erect, and pointed ; the eyes are small and 

 piercing ; the skin is naked, rough, knotty, 

 and lying upon the body in folds, after a very 

 peculiar fashion : there are two folds very re- 

 markable ; one above the shoulders, and 

 another over the rump : the skin, which is of 

 a dirty brown colour, is so thick as to turn the 

 edge of a scimitar, and to resist a musket-ball; 

 the belly hangs low ; the legs are short, strong, 

 and thirk, and the hoofs divided into three 

 parts, each pointing forward. 



Such is the general outline of an animal 

 that t.ppears chiefly formidable from the horn 



