APPENDIX. 97 



reduced to a ftate of ftarving, for the grafs is naturally parch- 

 ed up in fome feafons, and at others burnt purpofely by the 

 Shangalla. It is true, that in Europe their chief food is 

 hay ; trees cannot be every day fpoiled for them -In the 

 quantity they would need. But this is not their natural 

 food, more than the fugar and the aquavits that are given 

 them here. 



The roughnefs of the tongue of the rhinoceros is another 

 matter in difpute : it is faid to be fo rough, that the animal 

 with that can lick off the nefh of a man's bones. Others 

 fay, the tongue is fo foft that it refembles that of a calf. 

 Both of thefe are in fome meafure true, but aggravated by 

 the reporters. The tongue of the young Rhinoceros is foft, 

 for the fkin is much tougher and thicker too, than that of 

 a calf, and has apparently fome furrows or wrinkles in it, 

 but it has no puftules nor rudiments of any that are dis- 

 cernible, nor indeed has any ufe for them. On the other 

 hand, the tongue and iniide of the upper lip of the old Rhi- 

 noceros are very rough, and this appears to me to arife 

 from the conflant ufe he makes of thefe parts in feizing 

 the branches of trees which have rough barks, particular- 

 ly the acacia. It is, when purfued, and in fear, that we fee 

 he pofTefTes an aflonifhing degree of fwiftnefs, confklering 

 his lize, the apparent unwieldynefs of his body, his great 

 weight before, and the fhortne fs of his legs. He is long, 

 and has a kind of trot, which, after a few minutes, increafes 

 in a great proportion, and takes in a great diftance ; but 

 this is to be underltood with a degree Of moderation. It is 

 not true, that in a plain he beats the horfe in fwiftnefs. I 

 have paned him with eafe, and feen many worfe mounted 

 do the fame, and though it is certainly true, that a horfe 



i can 



