Identifier: wildbeaststheirw00bake (find matches)
Title: Wild beasts and their ways : reminiscences of Europe, Asia, Africa and America
Year: 1890 (1890s)
Authors: Baker, Samuel White, Sir, 1821-1893
Subjects: Baker, Samuel White, Sir, 1821-1893 Animal behavior Hunting
Publisher: London New York : Macmillan
Contributing Library: Harold B. Lee Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Brigham Young University

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mmences, as the beast has to be killed with spears, which pene-trate the hide with difficulty. Accidents frequently happen whenthe rhinoceros, thoroughly enraged, succeeds in snapping the rope. I have seen a horn in Khartoum that was brought down theWhite Nile by one of the slave-hunting companies, which camefrom the distant west, in the latitude of Lake Chad; that musthave belonged to a different species of rhinoceros, as it was quite3 feet long, and immensely thick; no Ketloa or black rhinocerosever possessed such a horn. The longest one I have ever shotmeasured 23 inches, and I have never seen a larger one in pos-session of the natives. There was a ready market in Gellabat, the frontier town ofAbyssinia, as in that country the horn is in great demand for thehandles of swords belonging to the chiefs. In 1861 in that localitythe ordinary price was a dollar per lb. The skin of the rhinoceros is exceedingly compact and dense.When stretched over a block and dried, it is rubbed down with
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xvi THE RHINOCEROS 295 sand-paper, and oiled; it then becomes semi-transparent, likeclouded amber, and is much esteemed by the great personages ofAbyssinia for shields; these are beautifully mounted with silver,and are highly ornamental. I have a piece of skin tanned whichmeasures 587 square inches and weighs 13; lbs. In its freshstate it would weigh more than double. Although the Soudanese Arabs eat the flesh of this animal, it isrefused by the savage tribes of the White Nile regions. Thesepeople say that the Arabs are hyaenas, who will eat anything, evencrocodiles. The reason given by the blacks for their objection tothe flesh of the rhinoceros is, that the blood is unlike that of anyother animal; that should your hand be bloody, and you close yourfist for a few moments, the fingers stick together, and you have adifficulty in opening them. I have eaten young rhinoceros, and found it quite as good as abuffalo calf, but I imagine that anything young is tolerable. Thiswas a curious inc

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