though lefseompaA there. The furfacoof it was fchrous and knotty, and not much differing from that of the elephant, but of'a , defer texture; and when it is ^ » extremely hard. It was of an aih-colour, excepting about the groin, where the ikin is- not near fo thick, but is almoft mute fmooth, and of the colour of a man’s flefh. The muzzle or nofe converges to a point, not only above and beneath, but likewife very vifibly on the hdes* nearly as it does in the tortoife. The upper lip is fome what longer than the lower. The eyes are fmall, and funfe 111 T h o u g h the horns have been diffufely defcribed-by others,- vet in order that the reader may form a juft and adequate idea o f them, it is requifite in this place to make various additions to the deferiptions already given. They are of the feme ihape, and in feme meafureof the feme fize i ■ both fexes;. yet it appeared to me; that the-fize of th ■ » wasnet always proportioned to the body. Neither, indee , is there any conftant proportion ohfervable between the foremoft horn and the hindmofi, though the foremoft is • always the larger of the two. _ Thehindmoft, efpeeially in the older animals, is moft commonly ohferved to he worn away in different parts, which is never the cafe in the foremoft and larger one. This, in feme meafure, confirms the affertion of the Hottentots and the colonifts, that the rhinoceros makes ufe of the fhorter one only for thd digging up of the various roots, which are feid to compofe great part of its food; it being endued with the power o f turning the larger horn at that time, on one fide out of the way. I was even informed. that in the live rhinoceros the horns were fo mobile and loofé, Delc” ^,r. that when the animal .walks carelefslv along, one may feeiits horns waggle about, and hear them claih and clatter againft each other. What feems to add ifarther confirmation to this account, concerning the truth of which, however, I am not without-my doubts in many refpedts, is an excavation or cavity in the hafe-of thehorns ; particularly that of the fore- moft, which, like a gienoid cavity, by means of certain articulations,: is adapted to, and inclofes a round protuberanoe o f the fcull. It was with great difficulty that we.cut the. horns away from it through the finews and cartilages, b y means o f which they Were attached to the .cranium, and o f -which the Temaihs ¡are h ill to be ifeen on tbehornsl have brought home with me. Had I previotiily had the leacft hint o f .the horns being moveable, I fhould certainly not have omitted to inveftigate the degree of ¡force With which the mufcles and tendotls, intended for the ftrengthening o f the joint, and keeping the horn fteady and.eredt, were capable of afting. Of the elder-of the rhinocerofes which we .had juft ihot, and whafe horns -I have preferved in the cabinet of thé Royal Academy, thehindmoft horn is very¡evidently much worn away. SI have likewife .found the feme -appearance, on1 another ¡rhinoceros »horn, which was put up for fale at the -Gape. Butinrthe younger animal, which Id if- fedted, and which I particularly allude to in the prefent defcription, no marks o f this kind ¡were ohfervable, The fliape of the rhinoceros-horns are univerfelly • conical, -with the tips inclined ¡fomewhat backwards, as ¡is tfhewn in the annexed plate:; and may .be feen ftill more diftindtly in a O a. .: figure
27f 72-2
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