ANIMALS. 495 



but one part with it. Many are the medicinal virtues that are 

 as(;ribcd to this horn, when taken in powder ; but these qualities 

 have been attributed to it without any real foundation, and make 

 only a small part of the many fables which this extraordinary 

 animal has given rise to. * 



unseen by the rhinoceros, wlio is seeking his enemy the horse, he gives hiiu 

 ii sti-oke across tlie tendon of the heel, wliich renders liim incapable of fur. 

 thiT fliglit or resistaoee." 



The double horned rliinocpros has a formidable adversary in a fly; and 

 this insect persecutes him so unremittingly, that it must eventually subdug 

 him, were it not for a stratagem which he practises for his preservation. 

 In the night, when the fly is at rest, the rliinoceros chooses a convenient 

 place, and there rolling in the mud, clotlies liimself with a kind of case, 

 which defends liim against his adversary the following day. Tlie wrinkles 

 and plaits of his skin serve to keep this plaster firm upon him, all but about 

 the liips, slioiilders, and le^s, where it cracks and falls oft', by motion, and 

 /eaves him exposed in those parts. The itching and pain which follow, oc- 

 casion him to rub himself in those parts against the roughest trees ; and 

 this is probably one cause of the numerous pustules or tubercles that ai'e 

 perceivable upon his skin. Tlie pleasure he receives from this employment, 

 and the darkness of the night, deprive liim of his usual vigilance and atten. 

 tion ; and the noise he makes is heard at so considerable a distance, that the 

 himters, guided by this sound, steal secretly upon Iiim ; and wliile lying 

 on the ground, wound him with theii' javelins in the beUy, where the wound 

 is mortal. 



The assertion that the skin of this rhinoceros is hard or impenetrable, lika 

 a board, is very incorrect. In his wild state he is slain by javelins thrown 

 from the hand, some of wliicli enter his body to a great depth. A musket 

 shot will go through him, unless interrupted by a bone ; and the Abyssi. 

 uians kill him with the clumsiest arrows that ever were formed, and cut him 

 to pieces afterwards with the most wretched knives. 



Mr Sparrman informs us, that having opened one of these animals, he 

 found the stomach to be four feet in length and two in diameter, to which 

 was annexed a tube or canal, twenty-eight feet long, and six inches diame- 

 ter ; the heart was eighteen inches in length, and the kidneys the same in 

 breadth : the liver, when measured from right to left, was tlu-ee feet and a 

 half in breadth, and .ibout thirty inches deep, as it hangs in the animal's 

 body when in a standing position. The cavity in the skull, which contained 

 the brains, was, however, but small, being only six inches long and foul 

 deep. 



The Hottentots ascribe many medicinal virtues to the dried blood of the 

 rhinoceros ; and some of them appear remarkabl y fond of its flesh, though it 

 is hard and full of sinews. 



* The Sitkotyro — Is an animal of a new genus ; only one species has been 

 yet discovered, and is termed by natiu-alists the Javan Siikotyro. It has a 

 horn on each side of the head close to the orbits, and is furnished with a 

 short, narrow, upright mane, along the back ; wldch extends from the back 

 of the head to the rump. 

 The Bukotyro is an inhabitant of the island of Java ; it is thus named bv 



2x2 



