CHAP. XIV , THE WA VS OF THE RHINOCEROS 269 



lations of bones were therefore due to a drought, and not to a 

 deluge. 



My remark in reference to the encounter with the three 

 gray-coloured rhinoceros — that I had learnt to leave these 

 animals alone when there were more than one — may suggest 

 that I regard the rhinoceros as a dangerous beast. Such, 

 however, is not the case. I had been told on the coast many 

 stories about the savageness of this animal, and the fury with 

 which it charges caravans. But Jackson, the most reliable 

 authority on East African big game, gives it a different char- 

 acter, and my own limited experience entirely confirms his. The 

 rhinoceros is really so short-sighted and stupid that with a 

 powerful smashing rifle it is the easiest of game to kill, and it 

 will always run away if it has time to think the matter over. 

 It is only dangerous in dense bush, for it then smells an 

 opponent without seeing him, and dashes wildly about in a fit 

 of fright and fury. I especially remember a valley to the 

 south of Lake Losuguta, where, as we cut our way through 

 the thorn jungle, we roused ten rhinoceros in one day. Some 

 of them dashed away at once, but others charged the caravan, 

 broke through the line, and disappeared into the bush on the 

 other side, while a hail of Snider bullets shivered into dust 

 upon their skins. Some of the brutes were uncertain of our 

 exact position and rushed about, crashing wildly through the 

 scrub, and snorting with rage. At these onsets some of the 

 men would fling down their loads in terror, and rush for 

 the nearest acacia bush to climb it ; others would stand with 

 rifles ready, though knowing that at any moment the rhino- 

 ceros might charge any one of us, and that as we could not 

 see him till he was within a couple of yards, it would then be 

 too late to dodge or stop it. This affected the men in very 

 different ways ; some of the pluckiest men in the caravan 

 were the most alarmed, and some of the most stupid were 

 then the steadiest. The former recognised most clearly their 

 absolute helplessness, while their livelier imaginations gave 

 them a more vivid picture of how they would look when the 

 rhinoceros had finished with them. 



That in such positions the rhinoceros is really dangerous 

 was shown by the experiences of Mr. Astor Chanler's caravan, 

 which at this very same time was trying to work northward 



