Sutherland - How to draw a rhinoceros: poems

A nose-horned beast strange and never seen in our country a very wonderful creature entirely different from what we fancied In its fifth month, not much bigger than a large dog At two years, no taller than a young heifer but broader, thicker, jutting out at the sides like a cow with calf Large as a horse, not much larger than the bounding oryx, bigger than a bull Equal to an elephant in length but lower to the ground. Like a wild boar in outward form and proportion, especially its mouth A mouth not unlike the proboscis of an elephant the underlip like that of an ox, the upper like that of a horse tongue soft and smooth as a dogs Piglike head, eyes the shape of a hogs, ears like a donkeys Skin the colour of an elephants, two girdles hanging down like dragons wings Dark red head, blue eyes, white body On its back, dense spots showing darkly purple spots upon a yellow ground Red hairs on its forehead, yellowish brows Skin the colour of boxwood: mouse grey, grey brown, blackish brown dirty brown, dark brown, dark ash the colour of a toad the colour of a speckled turtle It fears neither the claws of the tiger nor the weapons of the huntsman its hide impervious to darts so thick as to be impenetrable by a Japanese dagger Lead musket balls flatten on impact It does not feel the sting of flies Dry, hard skin, four fingers thick studded with scales, like a coat of mail, loricated like armour covered in calluses resembling clothes buttons Extravagant skin, loose like so much coach leather lying upon the body in folds. Between the folds smooth and soft as silk The horn stands upon the nose of the animal as upon a hill, rises dread and sharp as hard as iron, a little curved up sometimes three-and-a-half feet long The base is purest white, the sharp point flaming crimson, the middle black The colour of the horn is various: black, white, sometimes ash-coloured Commonly these horns are brown or olive-coloured yet some are grey and even white There is another horn not upon the nose but upon the withers Small piercing eyes, red eyes dull sleepy eyes that seldom open completely eyes in the very centre of the cheeks eyes placed as low down as the jaws eyes so small placed so low and so obliquely they have little vivacity and motion eyes that only see sideways eyes that only see straight ahead Teeth broad and deep in its throat teeth so sharp, they cut straw and tree branches like a pair of scissors two strong incisive teeth to each jaw twenty-four smaller teeth six on each side of each jaw It will kill with licking and by the roughness of its tongue lay bare the bones No animal near its size has so soft a tongue it feels like passing the hand over velvet Strong legs as big around as a mans waist massive legs terminating in large feet each foot divided into three great claws Sprouting from its slender inconsiderable tail black shining hairs a foot long the thickness of shoemakers thread not round like other hair but flattish like little pieces of whalebone All the breed are males and a female is never seen The penis is an extraordinary shape The female is the same in all respects except the sex. The female has two teats and an udder. The female brings forth but one young. The male horn is harder and sharper than the females The male has a small extra horn on its back right shoulder It never attacks men unless provoked but then becomes formidable If it meets a man in a red coat, it will rush him and throw him over its head with such violence the fall alone is fatal It can reach an age of a hundred years It is probable that it lives as a man, seventy or eighty years It seldom lives beyond twenty No creature that pursues it can overtake it It falls asleep before virgins and then can easily be taken and carried away Attack it during hot weather when it is lying in the marsh Cover a pit with green branches on the path from the forest to the riverside Destroy the old ones with firearms If there happens to be a cub seize and tame it Take it by gunfire