Front matter (continued 5)

“The elephant sometimes falls into a sort of phrenzy, which deprives him of his tractability, and makes him so formidable that it is frequently thought necessary to kill him, though they generally tie him with heavy chains, in hopes that he will come to himself; but when in his natural state the most acute pains cannot provoke him to do any harm to those who have not offended him. An elephant, made furious by the wounds he had received in the battle of Hambour, ran about the field crying out in the most hideous manner. A soldier, notwithstanding the warning of his companions, was unable to fly, perhaps from being wounded; the elephant coming up to him appeared afraid of trampling him under his feet, took him up with his trunk, placed him gently on one side, and continued his march.” These particulars were given to the Marquis Montmirail by M. de Bussy, who lived ten years in India, and served the state with reputation. He had several elephants in his service; he mounted them often, saw them every day, and had frequent opportunities of observing many others.

The gentlemen of the Academy of Sciences have also communicated to us the following facts, which they learned from those who governed the elephant at Versailles, and which deserve to be mentioned here. “The elephant seemed to discern when any body made a fool of him, and he remembered the affront to be revenged the first opportunity. A man deceived him by feigning to throw something into his mouth, upon which the animal gave him such a blow with his trunk as broke two of his ribs; having knocked him down, he trampled him under his feet, and broke one of his legs, and then kneeling down, he tried to thrust his tusks into the man’s belly, which, however, went into the ground on both sides of his thigh, without hurting him. He bruised another man, by squeezing him against the wall, for a little mockery. A painter was desirous to draw him in an unusual attitude, with his trunk erect and his mouth open; the servant of the painter, to make him remain in that attitude, threw fruits into his mouth, but often deceived him, which provoked his indignation, and, as if he knew the painter was the cause of his being thus insulted, without taking any notice of the servant, he threw such a quantity of water with his trunk upon the paper, the master was drawing on, as totally to spoil the design. The elephant made less use of his strength than of his address, which was such that he untied with great facility a double leather string which fastened his leg, and as this buckle had a small string twisted around it with several knots, he untied them all without breaking either the strings or the strap. One night, having thus disentangled himself from his leather strings, he dexterously broke open the door of his lodge, so that his keeper was not awakened by the noise; he went from thence into several courts of the menagerie, breaking open the doors that were shut, and pulling down the stone work when the passage was too narrow for him to pass; by this means he got into the lodges of other animals, terrifying them to that degree, that they hid themselves in the remotest parts of the inclosures.” In fine, to omit nothing that may contribute to make all the natural and acquired faculties of this animal so superior to all others, perfectly known, we shall add some facts, extracted from the most credible authors. “The elephant, even when wild (says Father Vincent Marie), has his virtues. He is generous and temperate; and when tamed he is esteemed for gentleness and fidelity to his master, and friendship for his governors. If destined to the immediate services of princes he knows his fortune, and preserves a gravity agreeable to the dignity of his employ. If, on the contrary, he is employed in mean labours, he evidently grieves and laments his being thus debased. In war he is impetuous and proud at the first onset; he is equally so when surrounded by hunters, but he loses courage when he is conquered. He fights with his tusks, and fears nothing so much as losing his trunk, which, by its consistence, is easily cut off. He is naturally mild, never attacks any person, unless he has been offended; he seems to delight in company, is particularly fond of children, caresses them, and seems to be sensible that they are harmless and innocent.”

“The elephant, (says F. Pyrard) is an animal of so much judgment and knowledge, that one should think him endowed with rational faculties; besides being of infinite service to man. If wanted to be ridden, he is so supple, and obedient, that he conforms to the conveniency and quality of the person he serves: he bends his knees, and helps his leader to mount him with his trunk. He is so tractable, that he does whatever he is required, provided he is treated with gentleness. He performs all that he is commanded, and caresses those whom he is directed to use with civility.”

“By giving the elephants, (says the Dutch travellers) whatever can please them, they are as easily tamed and rendered as submissive as men. It may be said they want no other faculty, but that of speech. They are proud and ambitious, but they remember good offices, and are so grateful for them, that they never fail to incline their head as a mark of respect, when they pass before a house where they have been well used. They may be conducted at the command of a child, but they love to be praised and cherished. No person can affront, or injure them without their notice; and those who have treated them with disrespect, may think themselves happy if they escape without being sprinkled with the water from their trunks, or thrown into the dirt.”

“The elephants, (says Father Philip) come very near the human species in judgment and reasoning. Monkeys are stupid brute animals compared to them. The elephants are so modest, that they cannot bear being seen when they couple; and if by chance, any person were to see this operation they would infallibly be revenged of them. They salute by bending the knees, and inclining their head; and when their master shews his intention to mount them, they so dexterously present to him their foot, that he may use it as a step. When a wild elephant is taken, and his feet are tied, one of the hunters comes near, salutes, makes an apology for having tied him, and protests that his intention is not to do him any harm; tells him that in his savage state he often wanted food, but now he will be treated with tenderness, and which he promises to do constantly. The hunter has no sooner finished this soothing discourse, than the elephant follows him as gently as a lamb. We must not, however, conclude from this, that the elephant understands languages, but only having a particular discerning faculty, he knows the motions of esteem from contempt, friendship from hatred, and all other sentiments of man towards him, for which cause he is more easily tamed by reasoning than by blows. He throws stones to a great distance, and very straight with his trunk; which he also makes use of to pour water over his body when bathing.”

“Of five elephants, (says Tavernier) which the hunters had taken, three escaped, although their bodies and legs were fastened with chains and ropes. These men told us the following surprising circumstance, if it can be believed, that when an elephant has been caught, and escaped the snare, he becomes very mistrustful and breaks off a large branch with his trunk, with which he sounds the ground before he puts his foot upon it, to discover if there are any holes, by which he may be caught a second time; for this reason the hunters, who related this singularity, despaired of catching again the three elephants who had escaped. The other two which they had caught, was each of them placed betwixt two tame elephants, and around them were six men, holding torches, who spoke to the animals, and presented them something to eat, saying, in their language, ‘take this and eat it.’ What they gave them consisted of small bundles of hay, bits of black sugar, and rice boiled in water, with pepper. When the wild elephant refused to do what he was ordered, the men commanded the tame elephants to beat him, which they did immediately; one striking his forehead, and when he seemed to aim at a revenge, the other struck him on the side, so that the poor creature soon perceived he had nothing to do, but to obey.”

“I have several times observed, (says Edward Terry) that the elephant does many things which seemed to be more the result of a rational than an instinctive faculty. He does whatever his master commands him. If he wishes him to frighten any body, he advances towards him with the same fury as if he would tear him to pieces, and when near he stops short, without doing him any harm. If the master is inclined to affront another, he speaks to the elephant, who takes up dirty water with his trunk, and throws it over the person pointed out to him. His trunk is made of a cartilage, hangs betwixt his tusks, and by some called his hand, because on many occasions it is as serviceable to him as the hand is to men. The Mogul keeps elephants for the execution of criminals condemned to death. If their leader bids them dispatch the wretched creatures quickly, they tear them to pieces in a moment with their feet; but if commanded to make the criminals languish, they break their bones one after another, and make them suffer torments as cruel as those of the wheel.”

We might quote several other facts equally curious and interesting, but we should exceed the limits of this work; we should not have even entered into so many particulars, if the elephant (fig. 133) were not, of all animals, the first in every respect, and that which consequently deserves most attention.

We have said nothing respecting the production of his ivory because M. Daubenton has made several useful observations upon the nature and quality of it, but he has at the same time assigned to the elephant the tusks, and prodigious bones attributed to the mammoth. I confess I was long doubtful on this subject; I had several times considered those enormous bones, and compared them with the skeleton of an almost adult elephant preserved in the king’s cabinet, and before writing the history of those animals, I could not persuade myself that elephants six or seven times bigger than the one whose skeleton I had seen, could exist; more especially, as the large bones had not the same proportions with the corresponding ones of the elephant, I thought with the generality of naturalists that these enormous bones had belonged to an animal much larger, whose species was lost or annihilated. But it is certain, as we have mentioned before, that some elephants exist who are fourteen feet high, that is, six or seven times bigger (for the bulk is in proportion to the cube in height) than the elephant, of whose skeleton we have spoken, and which was not more than seven feet and a half in height. It is also certain, for the observations of M. Daubenton, that age changes the proportion of the bones and when the animal is adult, they grow considerably thicker, though they are come to their full height: in fine, it is certain, from the relations of travellers, that of some elephants, the tusks weigh more than 120lbs.[AH] From these observations, we cannot doubt that those tusks and bones we have already noticed for their prodigious size, actually belonged to the elephant. Sir Hans Sloane was of that opinion, but he did not prove it. M. Gmelin said it still more affirmatively, and gave on this subject several curious facts[AI]; but M. Daubenton is the first who has proved them unquestionably by exact measures and comparisons, and reasons founded on the great knowledge that he has acquired in the Science of Anatomy.

SUPPLEMENT.

THE female elephant, as in all other animals, is more gentle than the male, at least we found it so, for the male which we saw in 1771, was more fierce and untractable than a female we witnessed in 1773; he would frequently lay hold of, and tear the clothes of those who approached too near him, and even his keepers were always obliged to be on their guard, while she was perfectly quiet, and always ready to obey, nor ever shewed a disposition to be perverse but when they wanted to put her into a covered waggon for the purpose of conveying her from one town to another; upon which occasion she would refuse to go forward, and they had no means of making her advance but by pricking her behind; this would make her very angry, and being unable to turn, the only way she had of revenge was to take up water in her trunk and throw it over them, and which she would do in pretty large quantities.

I formerly remarked, there was a probability, from the situation of the sexual organs, that these animals did not copulate in the same manner as other quadrupeds, but this conjecture I understand is not warranted in fact, for M. Marcel Bles thus expresses himself upon the subject: “The comte de Buffon, in his excellent work, is deceived in respect to the copulation of the elephants. In many parts of Asia and Africa they certainly, during their season of love, retire into the most secret recesses of the forests; but in the island of Ceylon which is almost in every part inhabited, and where I have lived twelve years, they have not that opportunity of concealing themselves. I have frequently examined them, and from the female organ being nearly in the middle of the belly there is some reason to conclude as M. de Buffon has done; however, when inclined to admit the male, I have seen the female bend her two fore legs upon the root of a tree, lowering, at the same time, her head and neck, and keeping her hind legs erect, which gave the male an opportunity of acting in the same manner as other quadrupeds. They never copulate but in a state of freedom. The males are very furious in the rutting season, and it is very dangerous to go near them; during which the females will sometimes make their escape, and seek the wild males in the woods. A few days after her cornack goes into the woods in search of her, and she will come to him upon hearing him call her by name, and quietly suffer herself to be led home again. It was from these excursions discovered that the females bring forth at the end of nine months.”

I certainly am ready to give full credit to the first remark of M. Marcel Bless, because he assures us that he has seen the elephant perform the operation; but I cannot think we ought so perfectly to acquiesce as to the time of their going with young, since it is the opinion of all travellers that they do not bring forth in a less period than two years.

THE RHINOCEROS.

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.

Commonly these horns are brown, or olive colour, though some are grey, and even white. They have only a small concavity, in form of a cup, under their base, by which they are fastened to the skin of the nose; the remaining part of the horn is solid, and very hard. It is with this weapon that the rhinoceros is said to attack, and sometimes mortally wound, the biggest elephants, whose long legs give the rhinoceros an opportunity of striking them with his snout and horn under their bellies, where the skin is tender, and penetrable; but if he misses the first blow the elephant throws him on the ground and kills him.

The horn of the rhinoceros is more valued by the Indians than the ivory of the elephant, not so much on account of its real use, though they make several things of it with the chisel, but for divers specific virtues, and medicinal properties, which they ascribe to it. The white, from being the most rare, are also those which they value most. Among the presents which the king of Siam sent to Louis XIV. in 1686, were six horns of the rhinoceros. We have seen in the king’s cabinet twelve of different sizes, and one of them, though mutilated, is three feet eight inches and a half in length.

The rhinoceros, without being ferocious, carnivorous, or even very wild, is, nevertheless, untractable. He is of the nature of a hog, blunt and brutal, without intellects, sentiment, or docility. He is subject to fits of fury, that nothing can calm; for the rhinoceros, which Emanuel, king of Portugal, sent to the Pope in 1513, was the cause of the ship being destroyed in which he was transporting; and that which we saw at Paris was drowned in the same manner, in going over to Italy. These animals, also like the hog, are much inclined to wallow in the mire. They like damp and marshy places, and seldom leave the banks of rivers. They are found in Asia and Africa, in Bengal, Siam, Laos, Mogul, Sumatra, Java, in Abyssinia, in Ethiopia, in the country of the Anzicos, and as far as the Cape of Good Hope. But in general the species is not so numerous, or so universally spread, as that of the elephant. The female brings forth but one young, and that at a great distance of time. In the first month the rhinoceros is not much bigger than a large dog; he has no horn when first brought forth, although the rudiment of it is seen in the fœtus. When he is two years old his horn is not above an inch long; and in his sixth year it is about ten inches; and as some of these horns are very near four feet long, it appears that they grow till the half, or, perhaps, during the whole life of the animal, which must be long, since the rhinoceros, described by Dr. Parsons, was not come to half his growth at two years old, which makes it probable that this animal, like man, lives to seventy or eighty years.

Without the capacity of being useful like the elephant, the rhinoceros is equally hurtful from the prodigious devastation which he makes in the fields. He has no one advantageous quality while alive. His flesh is excellent, according to the taste of the Indians and Negroes: Kolbe says, he has often eaten it with pleasure. His skin makes the best and hardest leather in the world; and not only his horn, but all the other parts of his body, and even his blood, urine, and excrements, are esteemed as antidotes against poison, or remedies against several diseases. These antidotes, or remedies, extracted from different parts of the rhinoceros, are of the same use in the dispensatory of the Indians, as the theriaca is in that of Europe. Probably, all those virtues are imaginary:—But how many things are held in great estimation, which have no value but in opinion!

The rhinoceros feeds upon coarse herbs, such as thistles and prickly shrubs, and he prefers this wild food to the sweet pasture of the verdant meadows. He is fond of sugar canes, and eats also all sorts of corn. Having no taste for flesh, he neither molests small animals, nor fears the large ones, but lives in peace with them all, not excepting the tiger, who often accompanies, without daring to attack him; therefore, I doubt, whether the battles betwixt the elephant and rhinoceros, have any foundation; they must at least be seldom, since there is no motive for war on either side; and, besides, no sort of antipathy has been observed between these animals. Some even in captivity have lived quietly together, without giving offence or provocation. Pliny is, I believe, the first who has mentioned these battles betwixt the rhinoceros and elephant. It seems they were compelled to fight in the spectacles at Rome, and, probably from thence the idea has been taken, that when in their natural state they fought as desperately; but every action without a motive is unnatural; it is an effect without a cause, which cannot happen but by chance.

The rhinoceroses do not herd together, nor march in troops like the elephants; they are more wild and solitary, and perhaps more difficult to hunt and subdue. They never attack men unless provoked; but then they become furious, and are very formidable. Neither scymetars, darts, nor lances, can make an incision upon his skin, which even resists musket balls; the only places penetrable in his body are the belly, the eyes, and round the ears; so that the hunters, instead of facing and attacking this animal, follow him at a distance by his track, and wait till he lies down to rest or sleep. We have in the king’s cabinet a fœtus of a rhinoceros, which was extracted from the body of the mother, and sent from the island of Java: it was said, in a memorial which accompanied this present, that twenty-eight huntsmen having assembled to attack this rhinoceros, they followed her at a distance for some days, one or two walking now and then before to reconnoitre her situation; by these means they surprised her when she was asleep, and silently came so near that they discharged at once their twenty-eight guns into the lower parts of her belly.

From the description given by Dr. Parsons, it appears that this animal has a good ear, and even very attentive: it is also affirmed, that his sense of smelling is excellent; but it is said that he has not a good eye, and sees only those things which are before him: his eyes are so small, and placed so low, and obliquely, they have so little vivacity and motion, that this fact seems to be confirmed. His voice, when he is calm, resembling the grunting of a hog; but when he is angry, it is sharp, and heard at a great distance. Though he lives upon vegetables, he does not ruminate: thus, it is probable, that, like the elephant, he has but one stomach, and very large bowels, which supply the office of many stomachs. His consumption of food, though very great, is not comparable to that of the elephant, and it appears, by the thickness of his skin, that he loses much less than the latter by perspiration.

SUPPLEMENT.

IN the month of September, 1770, another rhinoceros was brought to the royal menagerie, which was said to be only three months old; but I am persuaded it was as many years, for it was eight feet two inches in length, including the head, five feet six inches high, and eight feet two inches in circumference: by the 28th of August, 1781, it had increased seven inches in length, three inches in the height, and seven inches in circumference; and on the 12th of August, 1772, it measured nine feet four inches in length, including the head, six feet four inches high at the crupper, and only five feet eleven at the withers. In some places its skin was spotted with black and grey, and in others it was in deep furrows, having the appearance of a kind of scales. This animal had but one horn, which was brown, and of a very hard substance; and in all other respects he nearly resembled the description we have already given.

Mr. Bruce has remarked, that my conjecture, that in the interior parts of Africa there were rhinoceroses with two horns, was exactly the case, for he saw none in Abyssinia but what had one situated near the nose, which was of the common form, and the other rather higher on the head, sharp at the point, and always shorter than the first. M. Daubenton received a letter from M. Allamand at Leyden, in 1776, in which that gentleman says, “In a passage which M. de Buffon has quoted from Mr. Parsons, it is supposed, that the rhinoceroses of Asia have but one horn, and those of the Cape of Good Hope have two, but I am inclined to believe the opposite is the fact, for the heads of those I have received from Bengal, and other parts of India, had always two horns, and those which came from the Cape had but one.” This remark of M. Allamand we may consider as a confirmation of our former observation, that the rhinoceroses with two horns form a variety in the species, and may be equally found in Asia and Africa.

END OF THE SEVENTH VOLUME.

T. Gillet, Printer, Wild-court.

Transcriber Note

All obvious typographical errors were corrected. Where several variant spellings were used, the most prevalent version was use to standardize them. All illustration headers were standardized to display “Engraved for Barr’s Buffon.” above each group and the captions were also standardized. The illustration captions were arranged in ascending numbers. Where paragraphs were split by illustrations, they were rejoined. To match the other volumes in this series, the list for the placement of images was positioned after the Table of Contents.

p. 29, cougouacu-apara changed to cougouacou-ara

p. 171, missing endquote, placed at end of line

p. 225, missing endquote, placed at end of paragraph