424 TilE TROPICAL WORLD. 



them with two horns. The black species are the Borelo and 

 tlie Keitloa, which is longer, with a larger neck and almost 

 equal horns. In both species the upper lip projects over tlic 

 lower, and is capable of being extended like that of the giraffe, 

 tlius enabling the animal to grasp the branches on whose foli- 

 age he intends to feast. Both the Borelo and the Keitloa are 

 extremely ill-natured, and, with the exception of the buffalo, 

 tlie most dangerous of ail the wild animals of South Africa. 

 The white species are the Monoho and the Kobaaba, which is 

 distinguished by one of its horns attaining the prodigious 

 length of four feet. 



Although the black and white rhinoceroses are members of 

 the same family, their mode of liviiag and disposition are totally 

 different. The food of the former consists almost entirely of roots, 

 which they dig up with their lai-ger horn, or of the branches 

 and sprouts of the thorny acacia, while the latter exclusively 

 live on grasses. Perhaps in consequence of their milder food, 

 they are of a timid unsuspecting nature, which renders them 

 an easy prey, so that they are fast melting away before the 

 onward march of the European trader ; while the black species, 

 from their greater ferocity and wariness, maintain their place 

 much longer than their more timid relations. The different 

 nature of the black and white rhinoceroses shows itself even in 

 their flesh, for while that of the former, living chiefly on arid 

 branches, has a bitter taste, and but little recommends itself 

 by its meagreness and toughness — these animals, like the gene- 

 rality of ill-natured creatures, being never found with an ounce 

 of fat on their bones — that of the latter is juicy and well- 

 flavoured. 



The shape of the rhinoceros is unwieldy and massive ; its vast 

 paunch hangs down nearly to the ground ; its short legs are of 

 columnar strength, and have three toes on each foot ; the mis- 

 shapen head has long and erect ears, and ludicrously small eyes; 

 the skin, which is completely naked, with the exception of some 

 coarse bristles at the extremity of the tail, and the upper end 

 of the ears, is comparatively smooth in the African species, but 

 extremely rough in the Asiatic, hanging in large folds about the 

 animal like a mantle; so that, summing up all these characters, 

 the rhinoceros has no reason to complain of injustice, if we style 

 it the very incarnation of ugliness. From the snout to the tip of 



