 Reference Base  A natural history of four-footed animals: Of the rhinoceros |
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Indian Rhino |
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Of the Rhinoceros.
The rhinoceros, so called by the Greeks, from the Horn on the nose, is by many (and with great probability) taken for the true unicorn of the antients. The Hebrew name, which in our translation we render Unicorn, is by the Septuagint, St. Jerome, Tertullian, and others translated Rhinoceros. Thus where the Almighty questions Job, chap. xxxix. 9 Numquid volet Rhinoceros servire tibi, &c. Will the Rhinoceros be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib? Canst thou bind the Rhinoceros with his bond in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee? Wilt thou trust him because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him? Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy barn? Also, where Balaam willing to give Balak some notion of the God of the Israelites, tells him, Numb. xxii. 22 Deus eduxit illum de Aegypto, cujus fortitudo similis est Rhinocerotis: God brought them out of Egypt: He has, as it were, the strength of a rhinoceros.
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And he thinks this simile carries with it such a strong idea of his power, that he repeats it in the next chapter. Likewise Moses, where he maketh it an emblem of strength, in his blessing of Joseph, Deut. xxxiii. 17 Cornua rhinocerotis, cornua illius, &c. His horns are like the horns of the rhinoceros; with them he shall push the people together, to the ends of the earth. From these and several other places of scripture, as likewise from the general accounts of the antients, we may gather, that this creature, whether called rhinoceros or unicorn, was the strongest animal then known, and the rhinoceros remains so to this day; (not excepting even the elephant) whereas those who have so wonderfully multiplied unicorns (not to mention their absurd and contradictory descriptions) have not so much as pretended their force to come near that of the rhinoceros.
To convince the curious then, that the rhinoceros is the unicorn of the antients, and particularly that so often mentioned in scripture, it remains to prove, that it may very justly be taken for a monoceros, or one-horned creature.
Those who have bestowed two on it, either place one on the nose, and the other between the shoulders, on the fore-part of the back, or both on the nose.
The first to which our common prints seem to have given the only foundation, make the additional horn a very little one, which being fixt on an immoveable part, can be of no service to the creature, either for offence or defence, the great end for which nature bestows them: besides, the prints appear all to be copied from one, which seems to be that of Albert Durer, in 1515, for there is so exact a resemblance (even in some of the minutest particulars) between that and Gesner's, Johnson's, Barlow's &c. that were they taken from different rhinoceroses (as they must, if not taken from one another) we might
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conclude nature, in this creature, had forgot that agreeable variation which she stamps on every individual: Besides, as then the credit of this horn seems to depend intirely on one print, (no tolerable author having taken notice of it) may not we safer impute it to the draughtsman as a blunder, than to suppose so many writers (several of which had seen the creature) as Pliny, Aelian, Oppian, Brontius, &c. could all be so blind as not see, or so disingenious as not to mention it.
The others, who make it to have two horns on the nose, ground their opinion on a coin of Domitian, on the reverse of which is a rhinoceros with two horns on his nose, and that Epigram of Martial on the same rhinoceros, concluding with these lines,
Namque gravem gemino cornu sic extulit ursum,
Jactat ut impositas taurus in astra pilas. Lib.1 Epig.22
What Martial mentions by his Gemino Cornu, Dr. Grew confesses he don't understand: Politanus applies it to the bull, and the translator of Gesner would have it to be taken figuratively for a strong horn; but however this phrase of Martial may be explain'd away, Domitian's rhinoceros bears both his horns still, none as yet having made any attempt against either of them: If then we suppose, (which may very well clear up all the doubts) that in the time of Domitian , when Martial wrote, there was one taken, which had two horns on his nose, and for the greatness of the rarity, was by Domitian stamp'd on his coin, and by Martial celebrated in his epigram: If this be the case, (which is highly probable) no man, who considers the nature of things, will from this infer, that all rhinoceroses have two horns, no more than if he had seen a bull without any, lay it down as a proof, that the whole species were without horns.
But to conclude, should we allow the print right, yet that additional horn is so small, and stands in such a place, as not to come in
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any competition with the horn on his nose: So that even then this creature might be justly esteemed an unicorn, and in Domitian and Martial's rhinoceros, plainly appears only a redundancy in an individual, which is incapable of being charged upon the species.
This creature is found in many parts of Asia, as Bengal, Patana, Jacatra, &c. 'Twas not known to the Greeks in the time of Aristotle, nor to the Romans before A.U.C.666 or 85 years before Christ, when Pompey the Great, in his publick spectacles, show'd one at Rome. (This, says Pliny, was the first ever seen there.) Augustus, when he triumph'd for Cleopatra, showed another; Domitian exhibited in the Amphitheatre two, both taken notice of by Martial; Antoninus Pius, among his gifts to the people, gave a rhinoceros; Heliogabalus had the last, mentioned to be seen at Rome. Whether any appeared in Europe, from that time till after 1500, is uncertain. About the time Albert Durer did his print, which was in 1515, Emanuel King of Portugal received one from the Indies: This was the same Gesner is reported to have seen at Lisbon: and in the years 1684 and 1685, there was one in England, which was the last, and perhaps the first ever seen here, till this now brought over.
From the account here given, this seems to be the scarcest species of four-footed animals; for when in the Roman shows, they would bring in 4 or 500 lions, as many tigers, leopards, &c. we never find more than one rhinoceros, and that perhaps but in a number of years.
This wonderful creature, when at full growth, is said to be near as big as the elephant, being full as long, but not so high; it's skin so thick and hard, that no weapon will pierce it, of colour like the rind of a box-tree, which differs not much from an elephant's; 'tis all over rough, and looks as if scabby, which is probably caused by the pores being so very large; has very little hair; the legs are short and thick, the skin of them being more regularly marked, than
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that on the rest of the body, appears like scales; his skin is so loose as to hang over his legs like trowsers, and lies in several folds on his body; the three largest are, one that goes round his neck above his shoulders, another below them, and the third about his loins; these, and all the rest of the folds, draw out in certain movements of the body, and those parts of the skin which fold up, are smooth and of a flesh-colour: When he lifts up his head, all those under his throat come out, and the skin is tight; in like manner, when lying down, he stretches out his legs, those parts which appear like trowsers, become streight: There is a continual oil or grease perspiring through the skin, which nature affords to keep it supple, and prevent it from chopping; the want of this, when the creature is old, but especially in stuffed skins, which may be the cause of that extraordinary roughness which we find upon them, and which carries the appearance of scales or shells.
The Head very much resembles that of a hog, as do also the ears and eys, and in short, the whole creature, tho' Dr. Charleton classes it with the deer kind; the eyes, which are very small, are at a greater distance from the ears than in any other quadruped; just above the nostrils, grows the famous horn, which in this present animal is not yet come out, bending a little towards the crown of the head, but not so high, one of which, in the Musaeum of the Royal Society, is thus described by Dr. Grew: ['Tis in colour and smoothness ... and quite through solid.] Brontius says, the horn is black, gray, and sometimes white, which last is very rare, and sells much dearer than the others.
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The under-jaw is shorter than the upper, and from the upper-lip descends a musculous substance, which, as a proboscis, assists the creature more easily to convey the food into his mouth; this he dilates or contracts, as his use or necessity requires.
His teeth are small, and his tongue said to be so rough and sharp, as to lick a man to death, by raking away the flesh from the bone. The tail of this rhinoceros that is now shown, is like a rat's, but flatter, without hairs, which must alter very much in its growth, to resemble that belonging to the Royal Society, which Dr. Grew says is of a large one full grown, and gives the description in the following words, "The dock is ........... whale-bone."
The feet, (says Mr. Ray) are quadrisulc, or divided into four partitions.
In the Musaeum of the Royal Society, is the entire skin of a young rhinoceros stuffed, which Dr. Grew very accurately describes, in the following manner, "Tis a yard long ............. not being well taken off the feet."
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There is likewise a piece of skin tann'd, very thick, to be seen among the fore-mentioned curiosities: the Indians, they say, make bottles of it; but whether the vas rhinocerota, used by the old Romans in their baths, to drop oil on the body of the persons bath'd, was one of these bottles, or a vessel with a long spout, we won't presume to determine.
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Oppian denies any distinction of sexes among them, because, says he, all that were ever found, were males: But this is far from a proof. Pliny and Solinus say, they generate like elephants, camels, or lions: Brontius has fixt this point from a story we shall relate presently.
This creature delights much in moorish grounds, and wallowing in the mud; when at liberty its food is grass, herbs, and tops of boughs: whether it chews the cud, or no, is doubted; tho' it seems very plain to me, (says Mr. Ray) it doth not, for altho' it divide the hoof into two, or rather four parts, and is horn'd, yet by the horn's situation, solidity and duration, atken together, it differs from the horns of all other creatures, as well from those that fall off, as those that do not; nor doth it make any thing towards it, that it is not not carnivorous, but feeds on grass, herbs, and fruits, since the horse, who eats the same food, chews not the cud. That great one, which was shown about England, in 1684 or 1685, was fed with hay, turnip-tops, and corn, of which last, he eat a bushel and a half every day: Those who looked after him being ask'd, Whether they ever perceived him to chew the cud? answered, No. Moreover, seeing that not only in the head, snout, grunting, &C. he resembles the swine, but also in rowling himself in mire, why mayn't he also in not chewing the cud.
This which is here now, they say, eats only hay and rice, and drinks about six gallons of water daily.
Most authors, who mention this creature, report there is a natural emnity between the rhinoceros and the elephant; that before he enters the combat, he whets his horn against a stone, and that he always aims his horn at the elephant's belly (knowing it to be the tenderest part) endeavouring to rip it up; in which he is mostly succesful, yet sometimes, they say, the elephant
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advantegeously seizing him with his trunk, pierces him through with his teeth: This contest, they conjecture, is for their pasture. gesner relates, that when the rhinoceros, which was at Lisbon, was brought into the presence of an elephant, the elephant run away from him. This creature is not easily provoked, but when once enraged, hardly any thing can stand before him; Martial relates, that he would so long suffer the fury of the beasts let out upon him in the Amphitheatre, that the spectators almost despaired of seeing him fight with them, but when thoroughly provoked, he not only tost a bear, but a bull.
Brontius also tells a very remarkable story of the fury of this beast, when enraged: Theodore Jemming (says he) ..........[from Bontius to p.10]
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From this behaviour of the rhinoceros, Pierius makes him the Hierogluphic of a man hard to be provoked, and as hard to be appeased.
They are very unsociable (tho' not rapacious) creatures, never herding together, nor with any other beasts, and tho' they do not injury, yet all carefully avoid them, except the tiger, of whose friendship with the rhinoceros, Brontius says, I'll tell you something wonderful .................
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And as the dung is of such service to this creature, so it is also to man, for that, the water, blood, flesh, skin, teeth &c. are used with success against poison, and various diseases, but above all, the horn is famous for its virtues; of this they make cups, which are reported to take away all the noxious qualities of anyliquor put into them, as likewise to communicate a medicinal virtue to whatever stands in them some time: In the collection of the Royal Society, is a large oval box, said to be made out of one of these horns.
Piso, in his annotations on Brontius says, that in the year 1630, he had sent him from the Indies, a stone very ponderous, being not an inch long, and weighing two ounces, which was taken out of the brain of the rhinoceros; but of what virtue it might be, he could not tell, having not yet experienced it.
Little can be said concerning the longevity of this creature, but as it comes very near the elephant in bulk, and feeds on the same food, it may probably live as long, which is reputed to be two hundred years.
There is a great difference (says Linschotten) among the rhinoceroses, as to their value, which the Indians can discern, and is supposed to arise from the different herbage they feed upon, which gives them more or less virtue, some being sold for an hundred times more than others.
The rhinoceros, from which the figure was taken, was brought over in the Lyell, captain Acton, from India, the beginning of June 1739 and was begun to be publickly shown in London the same month, at
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two shillings and six-pence each person; 'tis a male, and judg'd to be about three years old, having as yet no horn, only an excrescence in the place where it is to come out; they say it was taken in Patna, and brought down to our India Company's settlement in Bengal, where a drawing in Indian ink, was made of it by Thomas Gregory-Warren, gunner of Fort William, 1738 which we have seen.
We shall conclude with taking notice, that the nasus rhinocerotis of the Romans, was a proverbial expression, for a way of ridiculing, either by turning or wrinkling up the nose, implying, that the weapon with which they assaulted their adversary, was the same: This manner of scoffing was unknown to the antient Romans, but in Domitian's time was so mightily in vogue, that both old and young practised it; whence Martial,
Majores nunquam rhonchi juvenesque, senesque,
Et pueri nasum rhinocerotis habent.
Our fathers never scoff'd, but now,
All, their rhinoceros-noses show.
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