X BLACK RHINOCEROS SHOT 191 



elephants were we should have to coast along the 

 bank to a place they named (near which I had shot 

 the four cows in the preceding month) before strik- 

 ing out into the marsh ; so, distributing my Kafirs 

 and baggage amongst them, we started. The canoe 

 prepared for me was the largest of all, and in the 

 centre of it were a mat and small wooden stool for 

 me to sit on. After punting along for an hour or 

 so, one of the Kafirs espied a black rhinoceros 

 standing amongst some bushes close to the water's 

 edge ; so, having as yet no meat for my large party, 

 I at once landed with my elephant gun and walked 

 up to him. When within about twenty yards the 

 animal either saw or heard something, for, wheeling 

 round with a snort, he faced us, holding his head 

 high in the air ; the next instant a four-ounce ball, 

 catching him in the throat and probably injuring 

 his vertebrae, knocked him down, and he lay 

 sprawling about, raising his head continually and 

 beating it violently against the ground, whilst snort- 

 ing loudly. Taking my small ten-bore rifle, I ran 

 up, and watching my opportunity, put a ball just 

 behind his ear, which, penetrating to his narrow 

 brain, at once put a stop to his struggles. On 

 examination, he proved to be a black rhinoceros 

 bull, that is, one with the long prehensile lip, of the 

 so-called variety R. keitloa. The horns, which I 

 still have in my possession, measured 2 ft. i in. the 

 anterior one, and i ft. 4 in. the posterior. He 

 proved to be as lean as a crow, yet my hungry 

 followers cut up and stowed away in their canoes 

 every fraction of the meat in a marvellously short 

 space of time. 



In the afternoon my boatmen paddled me cleverly 

 behind a patch of reeds close up to a herd of 



