9. "As is the case with many other tropical animals, the huge beast awakens to a more active life after sunset. It then hastens to the lake or river to slake its thirst, or to wallow in the mud, thus covering its hide with a thick coat of clay against the attacks of flies. During the night it rambles over a great extent of country, but soon after sunrise seeks shelter against the heat under the shade of a tree or rock, where it spends the greater part of the day in sleep, either stretched at full length or in a standing position. Thus seen from a distance it might easily be mistaken for a huge block of stone.

10. "From what has been related of the fury of the rhinoceros, its pursuit must be attended with considerable danger, and thus the annals of the wild sports of Southern Africa are full of hair-breadth escapes from its terrific charge. Once Mr. Oswell, having lodged a ball in the body of a huge white rhinoceros, was surprised to see the beast, instead of seeking safety in flight, as is generally the case with this inoffensive species, suddenly stop short, and, having eyed him curiously for a second or two, walk slowly toward him. Though never dreaming of danger, he instinctively turned his horse's head away; but, strange to say, this creature, usually so docile, now absolutely refused to give him his head.

11. "When at last he did so it was too late, for, although the rhinoceros had only been walking, the distance was now so small that contact was unavoidable. In another moment the brute bent low his head, and, with a thrust upward, struck his horn into the ribs of the horse with such force as to penetrate to the very saddle on the opposite side, when the rider felt its sharp point against his leg. The violence of the blow was so tremendous as to cause the horse to make a complete somersault in the air, coming down heavily on his back.

12. "The rider was, of course, violently precipitated to the ground. While thus prostrated he saw the horn of the monster alongside of him; but, without attempting to do any further mischief, the brute started off at a canter from the scene of action. If the rhinoceros imagined it had come off victor, it was soon undeceived, for Mr. Oswell, rushing upon one of his companions, who by this time had come up, and, unceremoniously pulling him off his horse, leaped into the saddle, and, without a hat, his face streaming with blood, was quickly in pursuit of the beast, which he soon had the satisfaction to see stretched lifeless at his feet."

13. In the rhinoceros and the hippopotamus we see interesting links in the chain which holds together the

great kingdom of animals. The hippopotamus, living both in the water and on the land, and, by its peculiar toes, bears a resemblance to the walrus and seal of the cetacean group on the one hand, and points to the pig and larger herb-eating animals on the other. The rhinoceros, in its general character and in its three cetacean toes, looks toward the hippopotamus on the one side, and, in its life on the land and its way of feeding, to the higher animals of the land on the other.

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE FIFTIETH BIRTHDAY OF AGASSIZ.

1. Ir was fifty years ago,

In the pleasant month of May,

In the beautiful Pays de Vaud,

A child in its cradle lay.

2. And Nature, the old nurse, took

The child upon her knee,
Saying, "Here is a story-book
Thy Father has written for thee."

3. "Come, wander with me," she said,
"Into regions yet untrod;

And read what is still unread
In the manuscripts of God."

4. And he wandered away and away
With Nature, the dear old nurse,
Who sang to him night and day
The rhymes of the universe.

5. And whenever the way seemed long,
Or his heart began to fail,

She would sing a more wonderful song
Or tell a more marvelous tale.

6. So she keeps him still a child,
And will not let him go,

Though at times his heart beats wild
For the beautiful Pays de Vaud;

7. Though at times he hears in his dreams
The Ranz des Vaches of old,
And the rush of mountain streams
From glaciers clear and cold;

8. And the mother at home says, "Hark!
For his voice I listen and yearn;

It is growing late and dark,

And my boy does not return."

Longfellow.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

OUR FARM-YARD MILK-GIVERS.

"In the furrowed land

The toilsome and patient oxen stand;
Lifting the yoke-encumbered head,
With their dilated nostrils spread,
They silently inhale

The clover-scented gale,

And the vapors that arise

From the well-watered and smoking soil.
For this rest in the furrow after toil
Their large and lustrous eyes

Seem to thank the Lord

More than man's spoken word."

1. WE owe a debt of gratitude to the poets who, like Longfellow in these graphic lines, have preserved to us pictures of animal life now rapidly passing out of fact. The time has been when the farm scene was incomplete without the patient oxen laboring before their load, resting in the furrow, or reposing in the shade chewing their comforting cud, and looking out of soft brown eyes. Now the ox is scarcely to be seen, except as a grazer in the herd or hanging in the butcher's stall. His place is supplied by the horse, or by the long-eared, nimble-footed prosy mule; the cow remains. Her golden products still shine on the farmer's table, and she sends her influence into crowded cities in the form of mild, diluent, and harmless fluid.

2. To write the the history of man. beasts that were the

history of the ox or cow is to trace Who first caught and tamed the wild original parents of our domestic cat

tle we shall never know. Egyptians, Assyrians, Hebrews, Greeks, Gauls, and Britons, all had cattle for the yoke

and the pail. Everywhere and in all ages this animal has been an indispensable servant of man's home and life.

It has given him a back for burdens, a shoulder for power, meat and milk for food, leather for clothing, and horn, glue, and hair for other necessary uses.

3. Under the influence of different climates, uses,