CHAPTER XIX. 
. 
THE WHITE RHINOCEROS. 
"The desert gave him visions wild, 
Such as might suit the spectre’s child. -% 
When with black cliffs the torrents toil, 
He watched the wheeling eddies boil, 
Till from their foam his dazzled eyes, 
Beheld the river demon rise ; 
The mountain mist took form and limb 
Of noontide hag or goblin grim.” 
AuTHouGH, during the middle ages, when the western world was immersed in darkness, the remembrance of the 
Rhinoceros, in common with that of many other quadrupeds familiar to the ancients, had altogether passed away, the records 
of antiquity establish beyond a doubt that one at least of the double horned African species of this animal must have been 
well known to the Romans, and even swelled the pomp of triumphal processions and the tide of blood that flowed in the 
murderous arena.* Not many years have elapsed since the ultra-grotesque figure now introduced—long dead to science — was 
enrolled by the indefatigable Burchell in the catalogue of extant Mammalia. Forming in many respects a ridiculous caricature 
| upon the ‘half reasoning Elephant,’ and ranking second only to him in point of size among the gigantic Pachydermes, 
. “ Formé preestanti, et cornibus ingens,” : 
| it will hardly fail to be considered a seemly companion for the monsters of Pliny, and might even take its place among the 
| most preposterous creations of Heraldry, or the crudest offspring of a distempered fancy, But unnatural and absurd though 
its proportions may appear to those unacquainted with the ungainly original, we stake our credit as an artist upon the seru- 
pulous fidelity of the portrait. Many a warm and unstiffened corse was measured with tape and two-foot rule, as Snip would 
oyerhaul the dimensions of a school-boy that needed a suit of holiday garments; whilst the likeness received its finishing 
ae from a liying subject that, as if with the express design of standing for a ‘ full length,” politely presented its courtly 
figure within fifty paces of the waggon. 
: - No quadruped with which naturalists are acquainted would appear to correspond more nearly than the White Rhinoceros 
with the stubborn Reem or Unicorn of Holy Writ. Attaining the height of nearly seven feet at the shoulder, and carrying a 
cranium not very dissimilar to a nine gallon cask, he flourishes upon the extremity of his square and truncated snout, a 
formidable weapon some three and a half feet long, fashioned after the approved model of a cobler’s awl, and capable, when 
wielded by a warrior so unquestionable in pith and renown, of being made to force its way through any opposition — its 
companion, although certainly a horn, being nevertheless such a mere exerescence, that at the distance even of a few yards 
it is barely perceptible. Superadding to the almost impenetrable folds of shagreen wherein nature hath encased his ribs, a 
goodly outer coat acquired by constant wallowings in swamps and stagnant pools, the gentleman is but rarely to be viewed 
under his true complexion, which if not quite so blond as the prefix to his cognomen might indicate, is yet much fairer than 
that of his swarthy congener, and often approaches to eream colour, Notwithstanding that this is one of the bulkiest land 
animals in the creation, the cavity which should contain the brain is not nearly so capacious as in the human species; but in 
removing the horn with an axe, the brain or something very like it, was found seated in a receptacle beneath—a phenomenon 
in idiosyncrasy east may possibly account as ie for the want of intelligence and piggish obstinacy, as for the extraordinary 
acuteness of the olfactory endowments. 
By what means I know not, the subject of the present chapter has contrived to secure unto himself the reputation of 
being less bellicose than him whose portrait has already appeared. Never extremely wild, it was yet prudently careful of its 
‘person, and entertaining a very becoming respect for fire-arms, was usually ready enough to retire before the bonrbarding and 
platoon firing to which it was exposed; but being subject to the same paroxysms of reckless and unprovoked fury, we often 
found it fully as troublesome as its sable relative. Dull, slow, and wallowing in its ordinary state; daring, swift, and perse- 
* «Namque gravem gemino corau sic extulit ursum, 
Jactat ut impositas taurus in astra pilas.”—Marrrar. 
+ Half a dozen persons can with difficulty raise the entire head of a white Rhinoceros upon a waggon, where it forms almost a load in itself, ‘The horns, 
adhering to the skin only which covers the vaulted nose, become detached in the course of a few weeks, by the jolting of the vehicle. 
