OCR Text |
Show 1873.] A SUMATRAN RHINOCEROS. 105 little one removed from the den, fearing that, during the lifting and moving to the van or trolley, she might be thrown or tumbled on to the little one and crush it. N o sooner, however, was the den safely landed on the carriage, than she exhibited signs of restlessness, and it was thought desirable that the young one should be replaced with its mother; this was done, and the keeper, Mr. Auguste Engelecke, entered the den and remained with the animals during the journey from the tidal basin of the Victoria Docks to the Commercial Road. O n arriving at the stables of M r . Rice in the Commercial Road it required some time to unload the large den from the trolley and get it into the stable ; and in order to prevent accident to the young one we agaiu removed it from its mother and conveyed it at once into the house, taking it in blankets into the parlour, where there was a good fire. Here we had quite enough to do to keep it from running all over the room, so strong and determined it appeared to be. As soon as the mother was safely lodged in the stable, the little one was carried in a blanket by two men and placed with its mother, and immediately went to her and commenced sucking. A very remarkable circumstance connected with the mother was her unexpected quietness ; for she had, previously to the birth of the young one, been inclined to attack the keeper or any one who went near her ; but after the young one was born, she allowed the keeper to enter the den and milk her as quietly as the tamest cow ; and moreover, after she was in the stable, I and the rest were inside with her and the young one, patting and caressing her with our hands as though she were a tame old pet that had been used to receive this marked attention from visitors. It has occurred to m e since that she was probably in the sulks ; for I remember the account of the Hairy-eared Rhinoceros when being removed in Calcutta : she turned sulky and lay down in the street, and it was with the greatest difficulty she was dragged or rather slid along over the muddy road to the stable; so stubborn and determined not to move was she that, although hundreds of pails of water were thrown over her, she would not rise. W a s our animal now under consideration quiet by being under the influence of the sulks ? I think this must have been the case ; for she allowed the men to enter the den, and some were pushing at her nose, others pulling her ears to back her out, and all this was done without any attempt on her part to resent or injure her tormentors*. Now, believing the statement of M r . Engelecke, this animal had been captured but little over seven months on her arrival in the docks; and Mr. Engelecke told m e that her captors had witnessed the act of her copulation just before she was caught in the pitfall: we m ay presume, therefore, that the period of gestation does not differ much from that of the Hippopotamus. * Since the foregoing was written, my suspicion has been fully confirmed; for only a few days afterwards her savage disposition and temper caused M r. Eice and his assistants the utmost alarm, lest she should escape from the stable or kill some of the men who attended to her; for she broke and smashed almost every thing within her reach, and they had the greatest difficulty in getting her into the den in which she was shipped to America. |