328 WILD ANIMALS. 



" Owing to their formation rhinoceros do not readily roll over 

 on their sides, and when shot they almost always die in a 

 recumbent position, as if they had quietly sunk down to sleep. 



" The flesh is excellent, and cannot easily be distinguished from 

 beef ; indeed it is better than most beef one sees in India. 



" The following are the measurements of an old male which I 

 shot, but larger specimens are to be met with : — 



Height at withers ... 5 feet 9 inches, or 17 hands 1 inch. 

 Length from nose to root of tail 10 „ 6 „ 

 Length of tail . . . • 2 ,, o „ 



Girth 9 „ 8 „ 



Girth of fore-arm . . . 3 ,, 2 „ 



It is a questio'n that has often been discussed whether the 

 animal designated unicorn in the Bible and other ancient writings 

 is not intended for the one-horned rhinoceros; but it has never 

 been satisfactorily settled. 



Agatharchides, the Greek peripatetic philosopher, who lived 

 about 130 B.C., was the first writer who described the animal 

 under the name rhinoceros ; he speaks of it ripping up the belly 

 of an elephant. 



Athenseus, in "The Deipnosophists," speaks of a rhinoceros 

 figuring in that marvellous procession of Ptolemy Philadelphus 

 (king of Egypt, B.C. 285 — 247) to which previous reference has been 

 made. It was an Ethiopian animal, and appears to have marched 

 last in the line of wild animals; it has been surmised that this 

 was probably on account of its superior rarity. It came imme- 

 diately after the camelopard, and before the wain bearing the 

 image of Bacchus, wearing a golden crown, fleeing to the altar of 

 Rhea from the persecution of Juno. 



Pliny states the one -horned rhinoceros was first exhibited at 

 the games of Pompeius Magnus, and afterwards was frequently 

 seen in Rome. A rhinoceros and a hippopotamus were killed in 

 the circus as part of the show given by Augustus to celebrate his 

 victory over Cleopatra. From a statement made by Dion Cassius 

 we are led to infer that this animal was of the one-horned species. 

 Martial speaks of Domitian having one with two horns, which was 

 evidently an African animal. This writer seems also to have been 

 acquainted with the single-horn species, for he alludes to it in one 



