"The hunter next goes to the handle and hauls on the rope until he knows that he is right over the beast. When he feels the line suddenly slacken, he is prepared to deliver another harpoon the instant that hippo's enormous jaws appear, with a terrible grunt, above the water.
"The backing by the paddles is again repeated, but hippo often assaults the canoe, crunches it in his jaws as easily as a pig would a bunch of asparagus, or shivers it with a kick by his hind foot.
"Deprived of their canoe the gallant comrades instantly dive and swim to the shore under water. They say that the infuriated beast looks for them on the surface, and being below they escape his sight. When caught by many harpoons, the crews of several canoes seize the handles and drag him hither and thither till, weakened by loss of blood, he succumbs. This hunting requires the greatest skill, courage, and nerve that can be conceived."
CHAPTER LVIII.
VIEWS OF THE RHINOCEROS.
The rhinoceros derives its name from two Greek words meaning nose-horned. Like the elephant and the hippopotamus it belongs to the thick-skinned animals. It ranks among the largest and most powerful of the land animals. The elephant, however, we may consider its superior in size and strength.
The form of the rhinoceros is clumsy and uncouth; while its appearance is dull and heavy. It has thick strong limbs, with feet that are divided into three toes covered with broad, horny nails resembling hoofs. The tail is short, with a small tuft of hair at the end.
The ears are of moderate size, but the eyes are extremely small. The head is large, with a somewhat lengthened muzzle; while the bones of the nose are formed into an arch to give support to a kind of rudimentary horn, which grows out from the skin. This horn is a very peculiar organ, and can be used as a powerful weapon when needed, or it can be used to root up bushes and small trees from which the animal wishes to eat the foliage and fruit. Though solid, it is not of a bony substance, but resembles in some ways the horny excrescences on the inner surface of a horse's legs. It is, in reality, a mass of tubes around which the horny substance is packed in circular layers one within the other. Sometimes a second horn, also starting from the skin, grows above the first, and rests for support upon the bones of the forehead. The upper lip of the rhinoceros is somewhat prolonged, and also prehensile to no small degree. By means of it the animal can pick up very small objects.
The whole body, the head, and the limbs are covered with a very thick, hard skin. This skin has very little hair, showing, generally, mere traces of it. A striking peculiarity of the skin is that its extreme hardness does not permit the free movements of the animal. This lack of pliancy in the skin is overcome in a measure by means of thick folds, almost joints, in it, in the region of the neck, behind the shoulders, in front of the thighs, and on the limbs.