172 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Method of killing the rhinoceros. 



noise lie makes is heard at so considerable a dis- 

 tance, that the hunters, guided by this sound, 

 steal secretly upon him; and while lying on the 

 ground, wound him with their javelins in the 

 belly, where the wound is mortal. 



The assertion that the skin of this rhinoceros 

 is hard or impenetrable like a board, is very in- 

 correct. In his wild state he is slain by javelins 

 thrown from the hand, some of which enter his 

 body to a great depth. A musket-shot will go 

 through him, unless interrupted by a bone ; and 

 the Abyssinians kill him with the clumsiest ar- 

 rows that ever were formed, and cut him to pieces 

 afterwards with the most wretched knives. 



Of the strength of the rhinoceros, even after 

 being severely wounded, some idea may be 

 formed from Mr. Bruce's account of the hunting 

 of this animal in Abyssinia: " We were on 

 horseback," says our author, " by the dawn of 

 day, in search of the rhinoceros, many of which 

 \ve had heard making a very deep groan and cry 

 as the morning approached ; several of the Aga- 

 geers then joined us : and after we had searched 

 about an hour in the very thickest part of the 

 wood, one of them rushed out with great vio- 

 lence, crossing the plain towards a wood of canes 

 about two miles distant. But though he trotted 

 with surprising speed, considering his bulk, he 

 was, in a very little time, transfixed with thirty or 

 forty javelins ; which so confounded him, that 

 he left his purpose of going to the wood, and 



