Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 February 1874 — The Big Rhinoceros. [ARTICLE]

The Big Rhinoceros.

Mr. Frank Buckland, writing in Land and Water in reference to the rhinoceros lately killed by the fog, and which is said to have weighed three tons,says: “The skin was of great thickness, in some places two or three inches, and as hard as a plate of an iron-clad man-of-war. It will require a good deal of tanning before •it will be fit to set up. This is the same rhinoceros whose horn was some time since amputated by Mr. Bartlett. When knocking about the cage in a bad temper, I am sorry to say natural to her, she managed to severely injure the base of her horn against the bars, and it became necessary to cut off the loose portion, butthis operation had to be done with care, and without irritating the. animal. Mr. Bartlett, therefore fed her with apples, &c., and so induced her to put her nose through the bars. While he was feeding her, for several consecutive days he rubbed the horn gently with a stick. Finding that this friction did not hurt her, the animal allowed the rubbing to go on without taking any notice. When at last she became quite accustomed to the friction, Mr. Bartlett substituted a thin saw for the blunt stick, and after two or three sittings managed to pass the saw almost ■ entirely through the base of the horn, i Some few hours afterward she finished ■ the operation herself by knocking the 1 loose bit completely off; it weighed • elqven pounds.”' Wisdom is sometimes nearer whea we I tpop than wijea w» IMT. ’,*•