CHAPTER XIX. 

 THE RHINOCEROTIM: AND SUID^E OF INDIA 



THE GREAT INDIAN RHINOCEROS 

 (Rhinoceros Indicus) 



THIS huge animal measures, in the case of a 

 large male, from 5 to 6 feet in height, and 

 the single horn, which is common to both sexes, 

 though rarely as much as 2 feet in length, seldom 

 attains more than one half that size. 



It inhabits the Terai, at the foot of the Hima- 

 layas, from Bhootan to Nepaul, and is very abundant 

 in Assam and the Bhootan Dooars, frequenting 

 swampy ground and dense jungles. It has a habit 

 of depositing its dung in the same spot, of which 

 fact the native shikarrie takes a somewhat mean 

 advantage. 



The peculiar tuberculated hide, with its huge 

 folds and plates, irresistibly calls to mind the plated 

 armour of bygone ages. 



In the valley of Assam, where the soil is all 

 alluvial, and stones conspicuous by their total 

 absence, the mighty Brahmaputra river is at the 

 present day, as in the ages that have passed, con- 

 tinually shifting its bed. What is this year a high 

 sandbank clothed with dense jungle, may not im- 



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