THE AFRICAN RHINOCEROS 



scents a human being, he generally runs forward in the 

 direction of the place from which the scent comes, to locate 

 his enemy, and to " investigate," not always meaning to 

 charge in any vicious way. Eight out of the twelve rhi- 

 noceros that I have shot, I have had to kill, as they charged 

 down on me, evidently meaning mischief, although in sev- 

 eral instances I waited with the fatal shot and gave the 

 rhinos a chance to change their minds, until they were 

 within a few yards of me, when I did not care to have 

 them " investigate " any closer. 



It is impossible to say what a rhino will do in certain 

 circumstances, for one time he will run away from and 

 another time he will charge down on his pursuer in exactly 

 the same situations. I remember once, when our caravan 

 was marching from the Laikipia Plateau toward Mt. 

 Kenia, how a large rhinoceros was feeding right in the 

 little native path, which we were following at the time. 

 Not wanting to kill the animal, but at the same time not 

 willing to risk the lives of any of the porters of the cara- 

 van, I consulted with the gun bearers and nearest men as 

 to what we had better do. They proposed that we should 

 make as much noise as possible, shouting and beating with 

 sticks on empty water pails, to frighten away the rhino. 

 As we began this terrible " kelele " the rhino, which was 

 only some seventy-five yards away, threw up his head and 

 tail and rushed away as quickly as he could. 



A few months later, however, when we were marching 

 toward Sotik through the Southern Kedong Valley, we 

 had an experience of an entirely different character. We 

 were following along an old Masai cattle trail, close to the 

 foothills of the Mau escarpment, when, reaching the top of 

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