170 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Bravery in self defence. 



and dash them in pieces against the surrounding 

 trees. 



" The eyes of the rhinoceros are very small; 

 he seldom turns his head, and therefore sees 

 nothing but what is before him. To this he 

 owes his death, and never escapes if there is so 

 much plain as to enable the horse to get before 

 him. His pride and fury then make him lay 

 aside all thoughts of escaping, but by victory 

 over his enemy. He stands for a moment at 

 bay : then, at a start, runs straight forward at the 

 horse, like the wild boar, which, in his manner 

 of action, he very much resembles. The horse, 

 however, easily avoids him by turning short to 

 one side ; and this is the fatal instant : the naked 

 man, with the sword, drops from behind the 

 principal horseman, and, unseen by the rhinoce- 

 ros, who is seeking his enemy, the horse, he gives 

 him a stroke across the tendon of the heel, 

 which renders him incapable of further flight or 

 resistance. 



" In speaking of the great quantity of food 

 necessary to support this enormous mass, we 

 must likewise consider the vast quantity of water 

 which he needs. No conn try but that of Shangalla, 

 which he possesses, deluged with six months rain, 

 and full of large and deep basons, made in the 

 living rock, and shaded by dark woods from eva- 

 poration, or watered by large and deep rivers 

 which never fall low or to a state of dryness, can 

 supply the vast draughts of this monstrous crea- 



