110 SINGLE-HORDED RHINOCEROS, 
against the attacks of every ferocious animal. 
The tiger will rather attack the elephant than the 
rhinoceros, which it cannot face without dan- 
ger of having its bowels torn out. With this 
horn/' says Martial, f<r it will lift up a bull like a 
football.” 
The upper lip is disproportionately large ; hang- 
ing over the lower, and terminating in a point. 
It is furnished with muscles, which enable the 
animal to move it with great dexterity in collecting 
his food, and introducing it into the mouth. The 
nostrils are in a transverse direction. The ears 
are rather large, erect, and pointed. The skin is 
naked, rough, and extremely thick. About the 
neck it is gathered into enormous folds ; a fold 
extends between the shoulders and the fore legs ; 
and another from the hinder part of the back to 
the thighs. The tail is slender, flat at the end, 
and covered on the sides with very stiff*, black 
hairs. In consequence of the vast bulk of the 
body, and the disproportionate shortness of the 
legs, the belly hangs low. The breadth of the 
feet does not much exceed the circumference of the 
legs. 
The body and limbs of the rhinoceros are de- 
fended by a skin so hard as to be impenetrable, ex- 
cept in the belly, by either a knife or spear. It 
is said, that even to shoot a full-grown rhinoceros 
of an advanced age, it is necessary to make use of 
iron bullets, those of lead having been known to 
flatten against the skin. 
Dr. Parsons, in the year 1743, published a his- 
tory of the rhinoceros, containing a very minute 
description of one that was brought from Bengal 
into Europe. He was only two years old, and the 
expence of his food and journey amounted to near 
one thousand pounds sterling. He had every day, 
at three meals, seven pounds of rice, mixed with 
