188 HISTORY OF 



CHAP. III. 



OF THE RHINOCEROS. 



Next to the elephant, the rhinoceros is the most powerful ot 

 animals. It is usually found twelve feet long from the tip ot 



Tlie manimof li desciibed by Mr Adams, in the fifth volume of the Memoiit 

 t'fthe Academy of St Petersburgli, was first discovered by aTongouse fislier- 

 m an in the year 1799, on tlie banks of the Icy sea, near the mouth of the Lena, in 

 a large misshapen block of ice. In the following year this became separated 

 from the surrounding masses but in the subsequeixt summer, the ice having 

 melted away one \vhole side, one tusk of the animal was distinctly visible. 

 The gradual development of this remarkable creature continued from year 

 to year till the fifth after its discovery, when, in consequence of the ice hav- 

 ing broken up early, it was drifted ashore, and the fisherman, in the month 

 of IMarch ISOl, despoiled it of its tusks, which lie sold for fifty rubles. Tavo 

 years after this, Mr Adams, who was travelling with Count Golovkin's eni- 

 bassy to China, healing of tliis at lakutsck, made a jomniey to the spot for 

 the purpose of scjcing it. He found the skeleton perfect, with the exception 

 of one foot, but the flesh liad been given by the natives of lakutsck to their 

 (logs, and the wild beasts in the neighbourhood had also assisted in consum- 

 ing ivhat had been left. The greater part of the skeleton was found con- 

 nected by its natural ligaments, and those bones which were separated were 

 •collected in the neighbourhood. The head was covered with a dry skin, the 

 ball of one eye was remaining, and one car furnished with a tuft of hair. 

 The brain was found dried up in the skull ; the neck ornamented v^ith a 

 long mane ; the skin covered with black hairs, and reddish kind of fur or 

 wool ; and the weight of the skin which remained so great as to require the 

 hard labour of ten men to remove it ; besides which, at lc;ist tliirty pounds 

 of h.air were collected from the ground, llie animal was a male, and its 

 tusks were nine feet in length. It was purchased by the emperor of 

 Kiissia for SOUO roubles, and placed by liim in the Academy of St Peters- 

 burgh. 



The islands north of Siberia, opposite the coast separating the month of 

 the Lerna from that of the Indigirska, are so remarkable for the immense 

 quantity of these fossil bones, that the etlitor of Billing's Voyage states, 

 " every island is formed of the bones of this extraordinary animal of the 

 horns and skulls of buffaloes, or animals nearly resembling them, and of 

 «ome rliinoceros' horns." " Description," says Cuvier, " tres exasreree sans 

 doute, mats qui prouve a quel point ces osy sont ahondnns." 



In America fossil elephant bones are found, particularly in the state of 

 Kentucky, along the hanks of the Ohio, and the most I'emarkable iissemblage 

 an! found at Big Bone Lick, which was closely examined by Governor 

 Clarke, and whence numerous specimens were sent by him to Washing- 

 ton. Humboldt also discovered part of a fossil tusk at Villa de Ibarra, in 

 the province of Quito in Peru, a hundred and seventeen loiacs above the 

 ie\ el of the sea. 



