terity, which was such, that he untied, with great facility, a double leather string which fastened his leg, with his mouth untying it from the buckle's tong, and after this buckle had a small string twisted around it, with divers knots, he untied them all without breaking any thing. One night, that he had thus disentangled himself from his leather strings, he broke open, so dexterously, the door of his lodge, that his governor was not waked by the noise. He went thence into divers yards of the menagerie, breaking open the doors .that were shut, and pulling down the stone work, when the passage was too narrow for him; and thus he went into the lodges of other animals, terrifying them to such a degree, that they ran away to hide themselves in the most remote part of the park. In fine, to omit nothing of what may contribute to make all the natural faculties of this animal perfectly known, as well as his acquired knowledge, we shall add some facts, extracted

from the most credible authors.

Of five Elephants (says Tavernier), which hunters had taken, three escaped, although their bodies and their legs were fastened with chains and ropes. These men told us a very surprising circumstance, if we can believe it, which is, that when once these Elephants have been caught, and eluded the snares of their adversaries, if they are compelled to go into the woods, they are mistrustful, and break with their trunk a large branch, with which they sound the ground before they put their foot upon it, to discover if there are any holes on their passage, not to be caught a second time; which made the hunters, who related this singularity, despair of catching again the three Elephants who had escaped. We saw the other two which they had caught; each of them was betwixt two tame Elephants; and around the wild Elephants were six men, holding spears. They spoke to these animals in presenting them something to eat, and telling them, in their language, Take this, and eat it. They had small bundles of hay, bits of black sugar, or rice boiled in water, with pepper. When the wild Elephant refused to do what he was ordered, the men commanded the tame Ele pharts to beat him, which they did immediately; one striking his forehead with his; and when he seemea to air at revenge against his aggressor another struck

him; so that the poor wild Elephant perceived he had nothing to do, but to obey.

I have observed several times (says Edward Terry), that the Elephant does many things which are rather an indication of human reasoning, than a simple, natural instinct. He does whatever his master commards him. If he orders him to frighten any person, he advances towards him with the same fury as if he would tear him to pieces; and when he comes near him, he stops short, without doing him any harm. If the master wishes to affront another, he speaks to the Elephant, who takes with his trunk dirty water, and throws it at his face. The Mogul has Elephants for the execution of criminals condemned to death. If their leader bids them to dispatch these wretches soon, they tear them to pieces in a moment with their feet: on the contrary, if he commands them to make these criminals languish, they break their bones one after another, and make them suffer torments as cruel as those of the wheel.

THE RHINOCEROS.

AFTER the elephant the Rhinoceros is the most powerful of all quadrupeds. He is at least twelve feet in length, from the extremity of the snout to the tail; six or seven feet in height; and the circumference of his body is very near equal to his length; he is therefore like the elephant in bulk; and if he appears much smaller, it is because his legs are much shorter in proportion to those of the elephant; but he differs widely from that sagacious animal, in his natural faculties, and his intelligence; having received from Nature merely what she grants in common to all animals; deprived of all feeling in the skin, having no organ answering the purpose of hands, nor distinct for the sense of feeling, he has nothing instead of a trunk, but a moveable upper lip, in which centres all his dexterity. He is superior to other animals only in strength, size, and the offensive weapon which he carries upon his nose, and which is peculiar to him. This weapon is a very hard horn, solid throughout, and placed more advan ageously than the horns of ruminating animals; these only protect the superior parts of the head and neck, whilst the horn of the Rhinoceros defends all the

exterior parts of the snout, and preserves the muzzle, the mouth, and the face from insult; so that the tiger attacks more readily the elephant, in seizing his trunk, than the Rhinoceros, which he cannot attack in front. without running the danger of being killed; for the body and limbs are covered with an impenetrable skin and this animal fears neither the claws of the tiger no the lion, nor even the fire and weapons of the huntsman; his skin is a dark leather, of the same colour. but thicker and harder than that of the elephant; he does not feel the sting of flies; he cannot contract his skin; it is only folded by large wrinkles on the neck, the shoulders, and the buttocks, to facilitate the motions of the legs, which are massive, and terminate in large feet, armed with three great claws. The skin of the two-horned Rhinoceros is much more easily penetrable than that of the single-horned. He has the head larger in proportion than the elephant; but the eye still smaller, which he never opens entirely, and they are so situated that the animal can see only what is in a direct line before him. The upper jaw projects above the lower; and the upper lip has a motion, and may be lengthened six or seven inches; it is terminated by a sharp edge, which enables this animal, with more facility than other quadrupeds, to gather branches and grass, and divide them into handfuls, as the elephant does with his trunk. This muscular and flexible lip is a sort of trunk very incomplete, but which is equally calculated for strength and dexterity. Instead of those long ivory teeth which form the tusks of the elephant, the Rhinoceros has his powerful horn, and two strong incisive teeth in each jaw. These incisive teeth, which the elephant has not, are placed at a great distance from each other in the jaws of the Rhinoceros. He has, besides these, twenty-four smaller teeth, six on each side of each jaw. His ears are always erect; they are, for the form, like those of a hog, only they are larger in proportion to his body; they are the only hairy parts of it. The end of the tail is, like that of the elephant, furnished with a tuft of large bristles, very hard and very solid. Huge and seemingly unwieldy as the Rhinoceros is he has the power of running with very great swiftness

The Rhinocercs which arrived in London in 1739 had been sent from Bengal. Although he was young