188 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE,

to exercise the same quiet patience which distinguishes
the elephant. The paroxysms of rage which Mr. Gordon
Cumming describes the African variety as venting upon a
harmless bush, or employing in tearing up the earth, have
been known to seize those specimens which have been im-
ported into England, as the following account of the rhino-
ceros, exhibited at Exeter Change, published in the “ Philoso-
phical Transactions for 1822,” will show. “This animal about
a month after it came, endeavoured to kill the keeper, and
nearly succeeded. It ran at him with the greatest impetuosity, -
but, fortunately, the horn passed between his thighs, and
threw the keeper on its head; the horn came against a
wooden partition, into which the animal forced it to such a
depth as to be unable for a minute to withdraw it, and,
during this interval, the man escaped. Frequently, (more
especially in the middle of the night), fits of frenzy came
on; and, while these lasted, nothing could control its rage,
the rhinoceros running with great swiftness round the den,
playing all kinds of antics, making hideous noises, knocking
everything to pieces, disturbing the whole neighbourhood,
and then, all at once, becoming quiet. While the fit was
on, even the keeper durst not make his approach. The
animal fell upon its knee to enable the horn to be borne
upon any object. It was quick in all its motions, ate vora-
ciously all kinds of vegetables, appearing to have no selection.
They fed it on branches of willow. Three years’ confinement
made no alteration in its habits.” The rhinoceros is said
to live for a hundred years.

The Hippo. The Hippopotamus introduces the second sub-

potamus. order of the hoofed animals, the Artiodactyla,
animals having an even number of toes. There is but
one genus of the Hippopotamus and two species, the Hippo-
potamus of the great rivers of Southern Africa, and the Liberian
Hippopotamus of the West. The Hippotamus is gregarious,
‘congregating in the deep shady, pools and on the sandy

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