DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.644#0177
iS4 GANGETIC HINDOOSTAN,
tant of the tiger. Bontius even fays, that the Indians have a
populär notion that there is between the two animals a ftrong
friendfhip. The faclt is, the rhinoceros repairs to wet places
out of love of roliing itfelf like a hog in the mire; the other
retires here from the burning heats, or to quench its raging
thirft. The Rhinoceros, when provoked, is a moft dangerous
enemy, and extremely fwift. A gentleman of my acquaintance,.
once in the fervice of the Company, had landed on one of thefe
iflands, and roufed a Rhinoceros, which rufhed on him, flung
Mm down, and ripped open his belly; the animal proceeded
without doing him any farther injury ; the gentleman furvived
the wound, and lived to a very advanced age. Cups made of
the horns are reputed to communicate to the liquor poüred in
them an antidote againft poifons. Bontius fpeaks frequently of.
the fcrapings of the hörn as a remedy in feveral difeafes..
Let me here mention that the duty on the fair made here,..
and in different parts of this province^ produces,as ufual in all
countriesr a vaft revenue. In Bengal k yields annually ^.430,000;
and the woods are inexhauftible magazines for boat building, to
carry on the vaft commerce of the Ganges, and its contributory
ftreams.
Natural. The natural hiftory of this fingular tra6t fhall: now engage
rilSTORY
my attention :—The tides, and vaft bores, or leading waves, the
eurrent, and annual inundations fiiall be referved tili my return
from the fountain of this vaft river;. I mean^after my flight view
of the zoology of the S.underbund, at once to gain the head of the
Ganges, to defcend the ftream, and in the paffage note its partir
cularities, or thofe of the great rivers whichaugment its waters.
*• When
tant of the tiger. Bontius even fays, that the Indians have a
populär notion that there is between the two animals a ftrong
friendfhip. The faclt is, the rhinoceros repairs to wet places
out of love of roliing itfelf like a hog in the mire; the other
retires here from the burning heats, or to quench its raging
thirft. The Rhinoceros, when provoked, is a moft dangerous
enemy, and extremely fwift. A gentleman of my acquaintance,.
once in the fervice of the Company, had landed on one of thefe
iflands, and roufed a Rhinoceros, which rufhed on him, flung
Mm down, and ripped open his belly; the animal proceeded
without doing him any farther injury ; the gentleman furvived
the wound, and lived to a very advanced age. Cups made of
the horns are reputed to communicate to the liquor poüred in
them an antidote againft poifons. Bontius fpeaks frequently of.
the fcrapings of the hörn as a remedy in feveral difeafes..
Let me here mention that the duty on the fair made here,..
and in different parts of this province^ produces,as ufual in all
countriesr a vaft revenue. In Bengal k yields annually ^.430,000;
and the woods are inexhauftible magazines for boat building, to
carry on the vaft commerce of the Ganges, and its contributory
ftreams.
Natural. The natural hiftory of this fingular tra6t fhall: now engage
rilSTORY
my attention :—The tides, and vaft bores, or leading waves, the
eurrent, and annual inundations fiiall be referved tili my return
from the fountain of this vaft river;. I mean^after my flight view
of the zoology of the S.underbund, at once to gain the head of the
Ganges, to defcend the ftream, and in the paffage note its partir
cularities, or thofe of the great rivers whichaugment its waters.
*• When