RHINOCERID^E. MAMMALIA. EHINOCEEID^E. 



185 



however, after the beast had run forty or fifty 

 he suddenly stopped short, and looked round. 



The 



favourable opportunity was not lost; for one of the 



party, more courageous than the rest, instantly fired, 

 and, as good luck would have it, brought the animal to 

 the ground with his terror-stricken rider clinging to 



Fig. 70. 



Burchell's Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros simus). 



his back." The same distinguished traveller remarks, 

 that when the Rhinoceros is shot, it usually falls for- 

 ward on the knees, and not on its sides a result which 

 seems explicable from the great breadth of the body 

 combined with shortness of the limbs. The Gargatan 

 feeds on the shoots, roots, and young branches of the 

 wait-a-bit thorn. 



SLOAN'S RHINOCEROS (Rhinoceros Keitloa) is better 

 known as the Keitloa, and easily distinguished by 

 its horns, which are nearly of equal length ; the anterior 

 horn being cylindrical, and curved backwards near 

 the tip; the other compressed and almost straight 

 throughout. The hide exhibits a brownish-yellow 

 colour, pretty closely resembling the above ; but there 

 is a black mark on the inside of the thigh. Both 

 these species are commonly termed "black," in contra- 

 distinction to the two succeeding white species. The 

 Keitloa is an extremely morose, sulky, and savage 

 beast, and when wounded becomes perfectly maddened 

 with rage. Mr. Andersson nearly lost his life by the 

 repeated attacks of a female, whose leg he had broken 

 by a shot. One of her horns ripped up his right thigh 

 from near the knee to the hip ; and having sustained 

 at the same time severe bruises and internal injury, his 

 ultimate recovery was only effected after prolonged 

 and painful suffering. The Keitloa is very swift of 

 foot. Notwithstanding their apparent ungainliness, 

 all the rhinoceroses possess the power of rapid pro- 

 gression to a greater or less extent. 



BURCHELL'S RHINOCEROS (Rhinoceros simus) is 

 known as the White Rhinoceros, or the Witte Rhin- 



VOL. I. 



aster of the Cape Colonists ; being also termed the 

 Chicore by the Matabili and Monoohoo by the Bechu- 

 anas (fig. 70). It is distinguished from the foregoing, 

 not merely by the pale whitish-brown colour of the 

 hide, but more particularly by the remarkable elonga- 

 tion of the head, which measuring about four feet from 

 the muzzle to the ears, nearly equals one-third of the 

 entire length of the body ! It is also further charac- 

 terized by a much greater bulk and size, as compared 

 with the above ; the nose being likewise square-shaped. 

 The full-grown anterior horn is three feet in length, 

 sharp at the point, and curved backwards. The dis- 

 position of this species is comparatively mild; and, 

 unlike that of its black congeners, its food consists 

 entirely of grasses. 



OSWELL'S RHINOCEROS (Rhinoceros Oswellii) was, 

 in the first instance, scientifically indicated as a distinct 

 species by Dr. J. E. Gray of the British Museum. By 

 the Bechuanas it is termed the Koladba. In point 

 of size and general appearance, this animal closely 

 resembles the foregoing ; but, observes Mr. Andersson, 

 " it is with regard to then- horns that the two species 

 chiefly differ from each other ; for whilst the anterior 

 horn of the monoohoo has an average length of two or 

 three feet, curving backward, that of the Kobaaba not 

 unfrequently exceeds four feet, and is slightly pointed 

 forward, inclining from the snout at an angle of forty- 

 five degrees. This rhinoceros is also the rarer of the 

 two, and is only found in the more interior parts of 

 South Africa." The posterior horn is about a foot long, 

 short, conical, broad at the base, and narrow at the 



2 A 



