COERESPONDENCE. 



THE MAMMALIA OF INDIA. 



To the Editor of the Journal, " Bombay Natural History Society," Bombay. 

 Sib, 



In the Jovirnal of the Society for the present year (vol. vii, p. 246) there is 

 a criticism of my " Mammalia" in the " Fauna of British India," and amongst 

 other observations on the work, the critic ridicules the statement that the 

 great one-horned Rhinoceros (R. unicornis) " was common in the Punjab 

 as far west as Peshawar in the time of the Emperor Baber." This statement 

 is said to be founded on "a lot of careless quotations, probably at second 

 hand, from an obviously bad translation of a probably corrupt manuscript." 

 One quotation from Erskine's translation of Baber's Memoirs, the work thus 

 stigmatized, is appended (at second hand), and is declared to contain the 

 whole evidence. 



The wi'iter of the criticism has not been able to consult Baber's Memoirs and 

 has been misinformed. The matter was ftdly explained by Mr. Blyth in the 

 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal for 1S62, vol. xxxi, p. 199. A reference 

 to Mr. Blyth's paper is given in the ' Mammalia' under Rhinoceros unicornis. 



The passage quoted by my critic occurs at p. 253 of Erskine's translation. 

 But at least two other passages in Baber's Memoirs refer to the Rhinoceros. 

 Both were tjuoted by Blyth, but the most important of them which occurs at 

 p. 316 of the Memoirs is worth re- quoting. This paragraph occurs in Baber's 

 general description of Hindustan, and of the animals, plants, t&c. Amongst 

 the animals peculiar to Hindustan, the elephant is first described, then comes 

 the following account of the Rhinoceros : — 



" The Rhinoceros is another {i.e., animal peculiar to Hindustan). Tliis also 

 is a huge animal. Its bulk is equal to tlu-ee buffaloes. The opinion prevalent 

 in our countries, that a Rhinoceros can lift an elephant on its horn, is probably 

 a mistake. It has a single horn on its nose, upwards of a span in length, 

 but I never saw one of two spans. Out of one of the largest of these horns I 

 had a drinking vessel made, and a dice-box, and about three or four fingers' 

 bulk of it might be left. Its hide is very thick. If it be shot at with a 

 powerful bow, drawn up to the armpit with much force, and if the arrow 

 pierces at all, it enters only three or four fingers' breadth. They say, however, 

 that there are parts of his skin that may be pierced, and the arrows enter deep. 

 On the sides of its two shoulder blades, and of its two thighs, are folds that 

 hang loose, and appear at a distance like cloth housings dangling over it. It 

 bears more resemblance to the horse than to any other animal. As the horse 

 has a large stomach, so has this ; as the pastern of the horse is composed of 

 a single bone, so also is that of the Rhinoceros ; as there is a gimiek in the 

 horse's foreleg, so there is in that of the Rhinoceros. It is more ferocious than 

 the elephant, and cannot be rendered so tame or obedient. There are numbers 

 of them in the jungles of Peshawar and Hashnagar, as well as between the 

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