PACHYDERM ATA. IT) 7 



The Rhinoceros is not uncommon in Sumatra, but is very shy, 

 and therefore rarely seen. 



R. Africanus. The animals of this species range over a large 

 part of Africa. They were formerly common in the vicinity of 

 Cape Town, but their present limit on the South West coast is 

 the twenty-third degree of latitude. In the interior of the conti- 

 nent, the tribe is still very numerous, but less so than in Asia. 

 This species differs from the Asiatic in having a comparatively 

 smooth hide, while almost all the Asiatic species have a very 

 coarse one, which is covered with large folds, not unlike a coat 

 of mail. Four distinct varieties are said to exist in South Afri- 

 ca, two of a dark, and two of a whitish hue, called the " black" 

 and the " white" Rhinoceros. The common Black Rhinoceros, 

 Rhinoceros bicornis, is called by the natives the "Boiele;" the 

 other, the "Keitloa," Rhinoceros keilloa. 



The upper lip in both species of the black Rhinoceros is capa- 

 ble of extension, and is so pliable as to twist round a stick, collect 

 its food, or seize any thing which it would carry to its mouth. 

 These animals are very fierce, and except the Buffalo, perhaps, 

 the most dangerous of all the beasts of South Africa. 



Of the white Rhinoceros, the two varieties are R. simus, the 

 common white Rhinoceros, called Monoohoo, by the natives, and 

 R. Oswellii, the KOBAABA, or long horned White Rhinoceros. 

 The chief difference between these two species, relates to the 

 horns, the front horn of the Monoohoo averages about two feet in 

 length ; that of the Kobaaba frequently is more than four feet. 

 The latter variety is least often found, and confined to the more 

 interior portions of Southern Africa. 



The White Rhinoceros is of larger size than the black. The 

 head is so prolonged that it is nearly one-third part of the entire 

 length of the body, which is from fourteen to sixteen feet; the 

 nose is square; the anterior horn is longer; the disposition of the 

 animal milder, and the flesh better tasted than that of the black 

 species. Its food is grass. The black species are very sullen 

 and savage in their disposition. Their flesh is lean, and of an 

 acrid taste, given to it by the "Wait-a-bit" thorn bushes, on 

 which they feed, ploughing them up with their short horn. 



The body of the R. Simus, (between fourteen and sixteen feet 

 long, and ten or twelve round,) is exceeded in size only by that 

 of the Elephant ; its belly is large and hangs near the ground ; 

 the legs are short, round arid very strong ; and the hoofs divided 

 into three parts, each pointing forward. The head is large; the 

 ears long and erect ; the eyes small and sunken, or deep set in 

 the head. The horns are not affixed to the skull, but attached to 



