The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-09-03
THE RHINoCERoS.
His Hide, Horn, and. Faithful Feathered
Friend That Accompanied Him.
Detroit Free Press)

IL Is prDDuDle ne Ditu IlluCn TaUner imam
dragged around the country in gaudily-
painted cart as one of the attractions of
a menagerie, or confined in some zoolog-
ical garden, where re is prevented from
goring the small boy who gazes at him as
irpudently rs he pleases-he lives in Asia
and Africa. Perhaps it would be more
proper to say that he fights in these coun-
tries, for the greater portion of his long
life is made Up of combats with his rela-
tives or any other animals who come in
| is way.
In Africa there are four varieties. dis
tinguished by the natives as follows:
The borle, or black rhineoceros; the
keitloa, or two horned black; the moo
hooho, or common white, and the kaboba,
or long horned white rhinoceros. The
first two are smaller but more fierce
than the white ones, and are quite as will
ing to hunt the sportsman as to be hunted
The largest of the Africans is the long
horned white rhinoceros, which has been
found Is feet inches in length, and the
circumference of its broad back and low
hanging belly is very nearly the same
number of feet and inches.
There are three species of the Asiatic
rhinoceros, two of which have but one
horn, while the third has two. These are
much smaller than their brothers from
Africa, and their skin hangs in folds.
Mr.. Greenwood says that the hunters
and writer's who have asserted that a
bullet will hardly pierce this animals
hide are mistaken, and that a rifle ball
will penetrate the loose, baggy covering
with little or no difficulty. The belief
that the hide was so tough probably
arose from experiments made with that
which has been toughened almost like
horn by process employed by the ma
-hA To II 1x-bi eto 4
walking canes.
Mr.. Gordon Cumming, the celebrated
hunter, in speaking of the largest Afrl-
can species, says: 1T is about as large
around as it is long, while the body sets
so low on its legs that a tall man a tip
toe could see across it's back. Attached
to its blunt nose-not to the bone but
merely set in the skin with net work Of
muscles to hold it's n horn more or
less curved, hard as steel, sharp, and more
than a yard long, and Immediately behind
this is a little horn, equally sharp and
nearly straight" His eyes are very
small, and as useful to him by night as
by day. His ears are long, pointed, and
tipped with a few bristles, which, with a
tuft at the end of his tail, make up all
the semblance of hair he possesses
The length of the horn varies in diff
ferent species, the main horn of the
kaboba exceeding four feet, while that
OF the moohooho is seldom over two feet
In all cases among the double horned an
imcls the rear one-that is to say the one
nearest the torehead-is always short,
not often more than six inches.
There are many singular superstitions
regarding the horn of the rhinoceros
which is not as valuable for it's ivory as
that from the elephant. Rhinoceros-horn
shavings are supposed by many people to
cure certain diseases, and it is believed il
poison be poured :nto a cup made of the
horn it will burst it. A German writer
says: "This horn will not endure the
touch of poison; l have often been a wit
ness of this Many people of fashion at
the Cape have cups turned out of the rhi-
neoceros horn; some have them set in sill
yer, and some gold. If wine is poured
into one of these cups it Immediately rises
and bubbles up as though it were boiling,
and il there is poison in it the cup imme-
diately splits. If poison is put by itself
into one of these cups it in an instant flies
to pieces. The chips made in turning
one of these cups are ever carefully saved
and returned to the owner of the cup, be-
ing esteemed of great benefit in convul-
sions, Paintings, and many other com
plaints.'
As to whether the horn of the rhineroc-
eros Is such n test for poison the reader
may safely doubt, but it can make but
little difference, since it is hardly prob
ably he cares either for the wine or the
poison, and has no need of such a sensi-
tive drinking-cup.
Clumsy-looking as the great brute is,
Mr.. Gordon Cumming says "a horse and
rider can rarely manage To overtake il. -
Another famous African hunter writes:
He is not often pursued on horseback,
and chiefly because his speed and endur-
ance are such that it is very difficult to
come up with him, to say nothing of the
danger attendant upon such course"
One of the most singular attendants is
that which the rhineoceros has 1t is a
little bird called by ornthoiogists Blu
phaga Afrcana, and is known to hunters
as the rhineoceros bird. This little fell
low clings to the animals hide by means
of its long claws and elastic tail feeding
on the insects that infest the leathery
skin. In doing this it renders great ser
vice to the huge brute, but trifing one
as compared to its other duty. 1t acts as
sentinel to warn its movable feeding place
of approaching danger. While it is eat
ing it is ever on the alert. and at the first
sign of the hunter it flies in the air, ut
tering its warning note, which is ever
quickly needed, the rhineoceros starting
off at once in the direction taken by its
watchful friend. Mr.. Cummings states
that when the rhineoceros is asleep. and
the bird hearing the approach of the hun
ter, fails to awaken him by its voice it