ater,
sometimes approaching so close to the shore, that the spray they
spouted from their mouths reached the persons who were passing along
the banks. I counted fifteen, at one time, sporting on the surface of
the water."

_Hunting the Hippopotamus._--Dr. Edward Russell gives us the following
account of a hunt of the hippopotamus in Dongola: "One of the animals
that we killed was of an enormous size. We fought with him for four
good hours by night, and were very near losing our large boat, and
probably our lives too, owing to the fury of the animal. As soon as he
spied the huntsmen in the small canoe, he dashed at them with all his
might, dragged the canoe with him under water, and smashed it to
pieces. The two huntsmen escaped with difficulty. Of twenty-five
musket-balls aimed at the head, only one pierced the skin, and the
bones of the nose; at each snorting, the animal spouted out large
streams of blood on the boat. The rest of the balls stuck in the thick
hide.

"At last, we availed ourselves of a swivel; but it was not till we had
discharged five balls from it, at the distance of a few feet, that the
colossus gave up the ghost. The darkness of the night increased the
danger of the contest; for this gigantic animal tossed our boat about
in the stream at his pleasure; and it was at a fortunate moment indeed
for us that he gave up the struggle, as he had carried us into a
complete labyrinth of rocks, which, in the midst of the confusion, none
of our crew had observed."

THE RHINOCEROS.

In common with the lion and elephant, the rhinoceros frequents the vast
deserts of Asia and Africa. Its appearance is chiefly remarkable, from
possessing one solid conical horn on the nose, sometimes three feet in
length, and from having the skin disposed about the neck in large
plaits or folds. The body of this animal is little inferior in size to
the elephant, but he is much shorter in the legs; his length, from the
muzzle to the tail, is nearly twelve feet, and the girth about the same
measurement: from the shortness of his legs, the belly nearly touches
the ground.

The rhinoceros can run with great swiftness; and, from his strength,
and hard, impenetrable hide, he is capable of rushing through the
thickets with resistless fury, almost every obstacle being quickly
overturned in his track. There is a two-horned species in Africa, but
little is known of it.

In India, the hunting of the rhinoceros is famous sport. The peop