THE RHINOCEROS. 169 
®cent, and his pursuers must approach him 
Against the wind to get even within musket- 
**hot. He ravenously devours all sorts of 
®^eet fruits and sugar-canes that he can get 
and to the husbandman his motions are 
destructive as his appetite. After bathing 
the day-time in the rivers, or wallowing in 
mud upon their banks, he destroys at night 
his monstrous bulk and with his clumsy 
^6et all the products of cultivation through 
''^hich his passage lies. 
The hide of the rhinoceros is said to be so 
l^^rd as to turn the sharpest sword, and to be 
'■tipenetrable even by musket-balls, excepting 
'^'^der the belly. For this reason the hunters 
^^"0 obliged to follow the animal at a distance, 
'^'^d to watch it until it lies down to sleep, 
l^fifore they can gain an opportunity of wound- 
*'^g it in the vulnerable part. The flesh is 
^aten by the natives of the countries which 
rhinoceros inhabits ; the skin is employed 
