AFTER the elephant the Rhinoceros ([fig. 124]) is the most powerful of quadrupeds; he is at least twelve feet in length, from the extremity of the snout to the tail; six or seven feet in height, and the circumference of his body is nearly equal to his length. In bulk, therefore, he nearly resembles the elephant, and if he appears smaller, it is because his legs are shorter in proportion than those of the elephant. But he differs widely from that sagacious animal by his natural faculties and intelligence, having received from Nature merely what she grants in common to all animals. He is deprived of all feeling in his skin; he has no organ to answer the purpose of hands, to give him a distinct sense of touching; instead of a trunk he has only a moveable lip, in which centres all his dexterity. He is superior to other animals only in strength, magnitude, and the offensive weapon, which he carries upon his nose, and which is peculiar to him. This weapon is a very hard horn, solid throughout, and placed more advantageously than the horn of ruminating animals; those only protect the superior parts of the head and neck, whilst the horn of the rhinoceros defends all the exterior parts of the muzzle, the mouth, and the face, from insult. For this reason the tiger attacks more readily the elephant, whose trunk he can seize, than the rhinoceros, which he cannot attack in front without running the danger of having his inside torn out; for the body and limbs are covered with so impenetrable a skin that he fears neither the claws of the tiger nor lion, nor the fire and weapons of the huntsman. His skin is blackish, of the same colour, but thicker and harder than that of the elephant; nor does he feel the sting of flies. He cannot contract nor extend his skin; it is folded by large wrinkles on the neck, shoulders, and rump to facilitate the motion of his head and legs, which last are massive, and terminated by large feet, armed with three great toes. His head is larger in proportion than that of the elephant, but his eyes are still smaller, which he seldom opens entirely. The upper jaw projects above the lower, and the upper lip is moveable, and may be lengthened six or seven inches; it is terminated by a sharp edge, which gives the animal the power to gather grass and divide it into handfuls, as the elephant does with his trunk. This muscular and flexible lip is a sort of imperfect trunk which is equally capable of seizing with force, and feeling with delicacy. Instead of those long ivory tusks, which form the weapons of the elephant, the rhinoceros has a powerful horn, and two strong incisive teeth in each jaw: these teeth, which the elephant has not, are placed at a great distance, one in each corner or angle of the jaws; the under jaw is square before, and there are no other incisive teeth in all the interior part, which is covered by the lips; but, independently of these four incisive teeth, placed in the four corners of the mouth, he has twenty-four smaller teeth, six on each side of each jaw. His ears are always erect; they are in form like those of the hog, only they are smaller in proportion to his body, and they are the only hairy parts about him. The end of the tail, like that of the elephant, is furnished with a tuft of large bristles, very hard and very solid.
Mr. Parsons, a celebrated physician in London, to whom the republic of letters is indebted for several discoveries in Natural History, and to whom I am under obligations for the marks of esteem and friendship he has honoured me with, published in 1744, a Natural History of the Rhinoceros, of which I shall give an extract with more willingness, because whatever Mr. Parsons has written deserves credit and attention.
“Though the rhinoceros was often seen at the spectacles at Rome, from the time of Pompey to that of Heliogabalus, though many have been transported into Europe in these last ages, and though Bontius, Chardin, and Kolbe, have drawn this figure, both in the Indies and Africa, yet he was so badly represented, and his description was so incorrect, that he was known very imperfectly, until those which arrived in London in 1739 and 1741, were inspected, when the errors or caprices of those who had published figures of him became very visible. That of Albert Durer, which was the first, is the least conformable to Nature; it has, nevertheless, been copied by most naturalists; and some of them have loaded it with false drapery, and foreign ornaments. That of Bontius is more simple and more true; but the inferior part of the legs is badly delineated. On the contrary, that of Chardin represents naturally the foldings of the skin and feet, but in other respects does not resemble the animal. That of Camerarius is not better; nor is that drawn from the rhinoceros which was in London in 1685, and which was published by Carwitham in 1739. Those which were engraved on the ancient pavement of Præneste, or on the medals of Domitian, are very imperfect; but they have not the imaginary ornaments given to that of Albert Durer.” Dr. Parsons has taken the trouble to draw this animal himself in three different views, before, behind, and in profile; and particular parts from other rhinoceroses which are preserved in the cabinets of Natural History.
The rhinoceros which arrived in London in 1739, was sent from Bengal: though not more than two years old, the expences of his food, and of his voyage, amounted to near one thousand pounds sterling. He was fed with rice, sugar, and hay; they gave him daily seven pounds of rice, mixed with three pounds of sugar, which they divided into three portions: he had also hay and green herbage, to the last of which he gave the preference. His drink was water, of which he drank great quantities at a time. He was of a quiet disposition, and suffered all parts of his body to be felt. He grew unruly upon being struck, or when he was hungry; and in both cases he could only be appeased by giving him something to eat. When he was angry he leaped forwards with impetuosity, and raised himself to a great height, and rushed furiously against the walls with his head, and which he did with a prodigious quickness, notwithstanding his heavy appearance and massive corpulence. “I have often been witness (says Dr. Parsons) of those motions produced by impatience or anger, especially in the morning before his rice and sugar were brought him. The quickness and celerity of the motions of this animal made me of opinion that he is absolutely unconquerable, and that he would easily overtake any man who should have given him offence.”
This rhinoceros, when two years old, was not higher than a young cow who had never had any young; but his body was very long and very thick. His head was large in proportion to his body; taking it from the ears to the horn of the nose, it formed a concavity, the extremities of which, that is, the upper end of the snout, and the part near the ears are very high. The horn, not then an inch long, was black, smooth at the end, but wrinkled and directed backwards at the base. His nostrils were not above an inch from the mouth; the under lip was like that of a ox, but the upper resembled that of an horse, with this difference and advantage, that the rhinoceros can lengthen, direct, turn it round a stick, and seize with it those objects which he wants to carry to his mouth. The tongue of this young rhinoceros was soft like that of a calf; his eyes had no vivacity, they were formed like those of a hog, and were placed very low, that is, near the opening of the nostrils. His ears were large, thin towards the end, and bound up with a sort of wrinkle at the origin. His neck was very short, the skin forming on this part two large foldings which surround him. His shoulders were very thick, and at their juncture there was another fold of skin which comes under the fore legs. The body of this young rhinoceros was very thick, and resembled that of a cow ready to bring forth. There was another fold betwixt the body and the rump, which descends under the hind legs; and lastly, there was another fold which transversally surrounds the lower part of the crupper, at some distance from the tail. The belly was very big, and hung down to the ground, especially the middle part; the legs were round, thick, strong, and bent backward at the joint, which was covered by a remarkable fold of the skin when the animal laid down, but it disappeared when he was standing. The tail was thin and short, compared to the volume of the body; that of this rhinoceros was not above seventeen inches in length; it is a little thicker at the extremity, which is covered with hard, short and thick hair. The sexual organ of the rhinoceros is of an extraordinary form; it is contained in a sort of case, like that of a horse, and the first thing which appears when irritated is a second prepuce of flesh colour, from which issues a hollow pipe, in form of a funnel, like a fleur de luce. It not being in a straight direction, but rather inclining backward, he emits his urine behind, and from which it appears their copulation must be different from other animals. The female has the exterior parts of generation situated like those of the cow, and she resembles perfectly the male in the size and form of the body. The skin is thick and impenetrable; in taking the folds with the hand, it feels like a wooden plank half an inch thick. “When it is tanned (says Dr. Grew) it is excessively hard, and thicker than the skin of any other terrestrial animal.” It is every where more or less covered with incrustations, in the shape of galls, which are small on the summit of the neck and back, but becomes bigger down the sides; the largest are on the shoulders and crupper, the thighs, and around the legs, down to the feet; but betwixt the folds the skin is penetrable, and even tender, and as soft as silk, while the outward part of the folds is as rough as the rest. This tender skin between the folds is of flesh colour, and the skin of the belly is nearly of the same colour and consistence; but those galls, or tuberosities, should not, as some authors have done, be compared to scales, as they are mere callosities of the skin, irregular in their figure and symmetry in their respective positions. The suppleness of the skin in the folds gives the rhinoceros the power of moving his head, neck, and limbs, with facility. The whole body, except at the joints, is inflexible, like a cuirass. Dr. Parsons says, that this animal hearkened with a sort of continual attention to any kind of noise; so that if he was even sleeping, eating, or satisfying other urgent wants, he instantly raised up his head, and listened till the noise had ceased.
In fine, after giving this exact description of the rhinoceros, Dr. Parsons examines whether the rhinoceros with a double horn exists, and having compared the relations of ancients and moderns, and the remains of this variety, found in the collections of natural objects, he concludes, with some probability, that the rhinoceroses of Asia have commonly but one horn, and those of Africa, generally two.
It is certain that some rhinoceroses have but one horn, and others have two; but it is not equally certain that this variety is constant, and depends on the climate of Africa or India, or that two distinct species may be established from these differences. It seems that the rhinoceroses with one horn have it bigger and longer than those who have two. There are single horns of three feet and a half, and, perhaps, of more than four feet in length, by six, or seven inches in diameter at the base. Some double horns are but two feet in length.