t of canes, at the distance of nearly two miles.
But though he ran, or rather trotted, with surprising speed, considering
his bulk, he was in a short time pierced with thirty or forty javelins.
This attack so confounded him, that he left his purpose of going to the
thicket, and ran into a deep ravine, without outlet, breaking about a
dozen of the javelins as he entered. Here we thought he was caught in a
trap--for he had scarcely room to turn--and a servant, who had a gun,
standing directly over him, fired at his head. The animal fell
immediately, to all appearance dead. All those on foot now jumped into
the ravine, to cut him up. But they had scarcely begun, when the animal
recovered himself so far as to rise upon his knees; and he would
undoubtedly have destroyed several of the men, had not one of them, with
great presence of mind, cut the sinew of the animal's hind leg. To this
precaution they were indebted, under God, for their lives."

The rhinoceros and the elephant have been known to engage in a pitched
battle, in which case the former always comes off victor. The combat,
however, is a very furious one.

There are two species of the rhinoceros. The one which is represented in
the engraving is the double-horned rhinoceros. It is perhaps the largest
of land animals, with the exception of the elephant. When pursued,
notwithstanding its large, unwieldy body, it can run with astonishing
swiftness.

[Illustration: CHAPTER END DECORATION]

The Alligator.

On the whole, though the alligator can hardly claim any attention from
us in these stories, owing to his manner of locomotion, and some other
circumstances, yet I think I will introduce him to the reader, as I have
two or three anecdotes about his tribe, which are worth reading, and as
he comes within the qualifications for introduction to our present
company of animals, so far as to possess the specific number of
locomotive organs.

A British medical officer, many years a resident in the East Indies,
relates the following painful incident: "A native, being employed in
repairing a ship lying in the Bengal river, carelessly put his legs off
the stage upon which he was seated, at the side of the vessel, and
being engaged in conversation with his wife and child, who were on
board, forgot the danger of his situation. As he proceeded in his
labors, it was necessary to lower the stage, until it came within a few
feet only of the water. He had not been in this