THE RHINOCEROS. n* 



> i 



fenfe of fmelling is excellent. But it is faid, 

 that his eyes are not good, and that he fees iuch 

 objects only as are before him *. The extreme 

 minutenefs of his eyes, their low, oblique, and 

 deep fituation, the dullnefs, and the fmall de- 

 gree of motion they feem to poiTefs, tend to con- 

 firm this fact. His voice, when he is in a ftate 

 of tranquility, is blunt, and refembles the grunt- 

 ing of a hog ; but, when enraged, it becomes 

 fharp, and is heard at a great diftance. Though 

 he lives on vegetables only, he does not rumi- 

 nate. Hence it is probable, that, like the ele- 

 phant, he has but one ftomach, and capacious 

 bowels, which fupply the place of many fto- 

 machs. His confumption of food, though *:on- 

 fiderable, is not near fo great as that of the ele- 

 phant ; and it appears, from the denfity and un- 

 Vol. VI. H interrupted 



* See the preceding Note — The eyes of the rhinoceros are 

 very fmall, and he fees only forward. When he walks, or 

 purfues his prey, he proceeds always in a direct line, forcing, 

 overturning, and piercing through every obftrudtion that falls 

 in his way. Neither bufhes, nor trees, nor thickets of brambles, 

 nor large itones, can turn him from his courfe. With the 

 horn on his nofe, he tears up trees, raifes ftoncs high in the 

 air, and throws them behind him to a considerable diftance, 

 and with a great noife : In a word, he overthrows every ob- 

 ject which he can lay hold of. When he is enraged, and 

 meets with no obftrnftion, lowering his head, he plows the 

 ground, and throws large quantities of earth over his head. 

 He grunts like a hog : His cry, when in a ftate of tranquility* 

 does not reach far ; but, when in purfuit of his prey, it may 

 be heard at a great diftance ; Defer: ft. da Cape de Bcnne -[v^ 

 ranee, par Kolbe. 



