seeing them, arose and drove her young one towards the wood, and when it stopped in its play,
pushed it forward with her snout. One of the
company, out of a bravado, rode up, and drawing
his Japanese sword, cut at the hinder parts of the
old one, but the blows did not penetrate, on account of the hide, and some whitish marks only
appeared. ‘The mother bore all patiently till her
young one was safely hidden in the bushes and
brushwood. Then the scene was changed. The
irritated beast turned suddenly on her persecutor,
whose life was saved by his frightened horse,
which galloped back to the party, pursued by the
furious Rhinoceros overturning trees and everything in her way.
"As soon as she saw the rest of the company, she attacked them; but they avoided her by getting behind two great trees, scarcely two feet apart, between which the Rhinoceros, in the blindness of her rage, rushed, making them tremble like reeds. While she was thus entangled, they used their fire-arms with fatal effect, and slew her. The rash man who attacked her by himself had a very narrow escape; for she turned short upon him with a horrible roar, and seized him by the boot, which, fortunately for him, was made of slight materials, and gave way. But for its yielding, actum de eo fuisset (says the worthy traveller), his affairs would have been soon settled.”
The natural food of the Rhinoceros consists of various kinds of herbage, and succulent plants, with the tender branches of trees; which he collects by means of his extensible upper lip. The specimen described by Dr. Parsons, was fed in captivity with seven pounds of rice daily, mixed
