time. This animal therefore had probably lived formerly within the
Colony, but having been hunted and wounded by the boors, it had,
though in vain, sought refiige beyond the boundary.
On each side of the carcase the Hottentots had made a fire to
warm themselves; and round a third fire, not fewer than twenty-four
Bushmen were assembled, most of whom were actively employed the
whole night long, in broiling, eating and talking. I watched them
with astonishment: it seemed that their appetite was insatiable; for
no sooner had they broiled and eaten one slice of meat, than they
turned to the carcase and cut another. I scarcely think that they
allowed themselves any time for sleep. Some of the natives whom
I had seen at the dance, were among the number of those who
assisted at this nocturnal feast.
The meat of the rhinoceros was excellent, and had much of
the taste of beef; and although the flesh of this, which was an old
animal, was somewhat tough, perhaps on account of being but just
killed; yet that of the female, being fatter, proved exceedingly well-
tasted and wholesome. The tongue would have been pronounced a
dainty treat, even by an epicure.
I laid myself down to sleep by one of the fires, but in the night
awoke with a violent headache and nausea occasioned by the wind
shifting round to the opposite quarter, and blowing towards me the
smoke of the green fuel, and the stench of the entrails and filth.
Towards sunrise the air became very cold; and having no other
covering than my watch-coat, I arose at daybreak, little refreshed by
broken rest, and feeling my whole frame exceedingly chilled.
8th. Taking with me one of the Hottentots, and some Bushmen
as guides, I crossed the rocky hills on the west, and descended into a
dry and extensive plain thinly covered with low bushes. In the
middle of this, we found the second rhinoceros; at which Speelman,
with a party of natives, had arrived an hour earlier, to prevent its
being cut up before I had seen and examined it. I immediately proceeded
to make drawings both in front and in profile, and a separate
sketch of its head on a larger scale, principally from measurement.
Two of these are given in this volume; the one in front at page 46,
and the head in profile at the end of the chapter. The animal lay
in a position very favorable for this purpose; having fallen on its
knees, and remaining nearly in the same attitude as when alive.
The first view of this beast, suggested the idea of an enormous
hog, to which, besides in its general form, it bears some outward
resemblance in the shape of its skull, the smallness of its eyes, and
the proportionate size of its ears : but in its shapeless clumsy legs and
feet, it more resembles the hippopotamus and elephant. It is, in
fact, in many less obvious particulars, closely allied to all these; and
by later naturalists, has been well arranged in the same class with
them.*
Its length over the forehead and along the back, from the extremity
of the nose to the insertion of the tail, was eleven feet and two
inches, of English measure; but in a direct line, not more than nine
feet three inches. The tail, which at its extremity was complanated,
or flattened vertically, measured twenty inches; and the circumference
of the largest part of the body, eight feet and four inches. On
examining its mouth I found, agreeably to common opinion, no
incisive, or fore, teeth in either jaw ; in the upper jaw on each side,
were five large grinders, and a smaller one at the back; but in the
lower, there were six grinders besides the small back tooth. The ink
which I had brought with me, being nearly dried up, I was obliged
to write this description in my memorandum-book, with the animal’s
own blood, f
* Of this species of rhinoceros, we shot nine in the course of these travels; besides
a smaller one. This has been presented to the British Museum.
f This Rhinoceros is of the species already described by Sparrman, under the name
of Rh. hicomis. But other species with two horns, having been since discovered, the
name of Rh. Africanus has been substituted by Cuvier. And as I have subsequently discovered
another species in Africa, also with two horns, this name would now, according
to that principle of nomenclature, require again to be changed.
The new species here alluded to, I have named Rhinoceros simus, (** Bulletin des
S c ie n ce sliv r . de Juin 1817, p. 96.) from the flattened form of its nose and mouth, by
which, and by its greater size, and the proportions of its head, it is remarkably distinguished
from the other African species. A more complete account of this, is reserved for
a future opportunity, as it belongs to a part of my journal not included in the present
volume. In the mean time the work above named, may be referred to for a figure of it, and for some further particulars.