200 SINGLE-HORNED RHINOCEROS. 
India, as well as of the islands of Java, Sumatra, 
Sec. This animal falls far short of the Elephant 
in sagacity and docihty. It is, however, of a quiet 
and inoffensive disposition, but ^'cry furious and 
dangerous when provoked or attacked; he is said 
to run with great swiftness, and, from his strength 
and unpenetrable covering, is capable of rushing 
with resistless violence through woods and obsta- 
cles of every kind; the trees bending like twigs 
while he passes between them. In general habits 
and manner of feeding the Rhinoceros resembles 
the Elephant ; residing in cool sequestered spots, 
near waters, and in shady woods : it delights in 
rolling occasionally in the mud, in the manner of 
a hog. Its skin is so hard as to be impenetrable 
by any common weapons, except on the belly : it 
is even said, that, in order to shoot a full-grown 
Rhinoceros of advanced age, it is necessary to 
make use of iron bullets; those of lead having 
been known to be flattened against the skin. 
The bones of the Rhinoceros, like those of the 
Elephant, are often found in a fossil state in va- 
rious parts of the world; and in the year 1772 an 
entire Rhinoceros was found buried in the banks 
of a Siberian river, in the ancient frozen soil, 
with the skin, tendons, and some of the flesh, in 
the highest state of preservation. It was disco- 
vered in the sandy banks of the river Witim, 
which falls into the Lena, below Jakutsk, in N. 
lat. 64. A full account of this curious discovery 
is given by Dr. Pallas, in the 1 7th vol. of the 
Petersburgh Transactions. 
