 Reference Base  Scenes and characteristics of Hindostan, with sketches of... |
|
Roberts, E., 1837. Scenes and characteristics of Hindostan, with sketches of Anglo-Indian society, vol. 1. London, W.H. Allen (2 vols)
|
|
|
|
| |
| Location: |
Asia - South Asia - India |
| Subject: |
Distribution |
| Species: |
Indian Rhino |
 |
|
|
[98-99] The Rhinoceros is an inhabitant of the woods of Rajmhal, and though of too sullen and cruel a character to become domesticated or useful to man, whan taken young may be permitted nearly the same liberty of action as that with which the elephant in the Zoological Gardens is indulged. An enclosure of not very large dimensions, but in which there is a spreading umbrageous tree, and a small muddy pond, in Barrackpore Park, contains one of these huge unwieldy animals. The creature is apparently well- satisfied with its condition, wallowing for half the day in the mire, and spending the remainder under the sheltering boughs of its leafy canopy. It does not display any anger or impatience at the approach of visitors, and gazes unconcernedly at the carriages which are continually passing and re-passing the place of its confinement which, for the convenience of those who may wish to see it without much trouble, is close to the public road. This extraordinary animal is rarely seen in Europe ; a young one, captured a few years ago, which was intended for an English menagerie, unfortunately perished in consequence of the miscalculations of the natives to whom it was entrusted. As they learned that there would be some difficulty in procuring proper food for their four-footed companion, in one stage of their journey to Calcutta, they crammed it with three days' provision at once, and it died of repletion, a contingency which never occurred to men who can endure the extremes of abstinence or of excess without sustaining much personal inconvenience.
|
|
|
File available
details
Original text on this topic: