304 MAMMALIA—RHINOCEROS. 
tail; six or seven feet in height; and the circumference of his body is very 
nearly equal to his length ; he is therefore like the elephant in bulk ; and if 
he appears much smaller, it is because his legs are much shorter in propor- 
tion to those of the elephant; but he differs widely from that sagacious 
animal, in his natural faculties, and his intelligence; having received from 
nature merely what she grants in common to all animals, deprived of all 
feeling in the skin, having no organ answering the purpose of hands, nor 
distinct for the sense of feeling, he has nothing instead of a trunk, but a 
moveable upper lip, in which centres all his dexterity. He is superior to 
other animals only in strength, size, and the offensive weapon which he 
carries upon his nose, and which is peculiar to him. This weapon is a very 
hard horn, solid throughout, and placed more advantageously than the horns 
of ruminating animals; these only protect the superior parts of the head 
and neck, whilst the horn of the rhinoceros defends all the exterior parts of 
the snout, and preserves the muzzle, the mouth, and the face from insult; 
so that the tiger attacks more readily the elephant, in seizing his trunk, than 
the rhinoceros, which he cannot attack in front, without running the danger 
of being killed; for the body and limbs are covered with an impenetrable 
skin; and this animal fears neither the claws of the tiger nor the lion, nor 
even the fire and weapons of the huntsman; his skin is a dark leather, of 
the same color, but thicker and harder than that of the elephant; he does 
not feel the sting of flies; he cannot contract his skin; it is only folded by 
large wrinkles on the neck, the shoulders, and the buttocks, to facilitate the 
motions of the legs, which are massive, and terminate in large feet, armed 
with three great claws. The skin of the two horned rhinoceros is much 
more easily penetrable than that of the single horned. It not only ap- 
pears that the skin is thinner than that of the one horned rhinoceros, but it 
seems that it has not the same folds. Mr Burchell says that there are two 
distinct species of the two horned rhinoceros in South Africa. He has the 
head larger in proportion than the elephant; but the eye still smaller, which 
he never opens entirely, and they are so situated that the animal can see 
only what is in a direct line before him. The upper jaw projects above the 
lower ; and the upper lip has a motion, and may be lengthened six or seven 
inches ; it is terminated by a sharp edge, which enables this animal, with 
more facility than other quadrupeds, to gather branches and grass, and 
divide them into handfuls, as the elephant does with his trunk. This 
muscular and flexible lip is a sort of trunk very incomplete, but which is 
equally calculated for strength and dexterity. Instead of those long ivory 
teeth which form the tusks of the elephant, the rhinoceros has his powerful 
horn, and two strong incisive teeth in each jaw. These incisive teeth, 
which the elephant has not, are placed at a great distance from each other 
in the jaws of the rhinoceros. He has, besides these, twenty-four smaller 
teeth, six on each side of each jaw. His ears are always erect; they are, 
for the form like those of a hog, only they are larger in proportion to his 
