362 THE RHINOCEROS. 



the enemy j but they are always unmanageable 

 and restive animals, and probably more danger- 

 ous to the employers, than those whom they are 

 brought to oppose. 



The method of taking them is chiefly watch- 

 ing them, till they are found either in some moist 

 or marshy place, where, like hogs, they are fond 

 of sleeping and wallowing. They then destroy 

 the old one with fire-arms ; for no weapons, that 

 are thrown by the force of man, are capable of 

 entering this animal's hide. If, when the old one 

 is destroyed, there happens to be a cub, they 

 seize and tame it : these animals are sometimes 

 taken in pit-falls, covered with green branches, 

 laid in those paths which the rhinoceros makes 

 in going from the forest to the river side. 



There are some varieties in this animal, as in 

 most others : some of them are found in Africa 

 with a double horn, one growing above the other. 

 This weapon, if considered in itself, is one of the 

 strongest, and most dangerous, that nature fur- 

 nishes to any part of the animal creation. The 

 horn is entirely solid, formed of the hardest bony 

 substance, growing from the upper maxillary 

 bone, by so strong an apophyse as seemingly to 

 make but one part with it. Many are the medi- 

 cinal virtues that are ascribed to this horn, when 

 taken in powder ; but these qualities have been 

 attributed to it without any real foundation, and 

 make only a small part of the many fables which 

 this extraordinary animal has given rise to. 



