368 GHANZE. 



CHAPTER XXX. 



Ghanze. — Sjiotted Hycena. — The Rhinoceros. — Where found. — Sev- 

 eral Si^ecies. — Description of Rhinoceros. — Size. — Appearance.- — 

 Age. — Strength. — Speed. — Food. — Water. — The Young. — Affec- 

 tion. — Senses. — Disposition. — Gregarious. — Indolence. — Domesti- 

 cation. — Flesh. — Horns. — The Chase. — Mr. Oswell's Adventure? 

 with Rhinoceroses. — A Crotch'et. — Where to aim at the Rhinoce- 

 ros. — Does not bleed externally when wounded. — Great numbers 

 slain annually. 



GiiANZE, according to the interpretation of my Griqiia, 

 signifies very large, and yet very small. Absurd as this ex- 

 planation may appear, there is, nevertheless, some aptness in 

 it. The "very large" means that from the moisture of the 

 ground there is an indication of much water, while the real 

 quantity is trifling. Ghanze is a peculiar and dreary -look- 

 ing place, consisting of an extensive hollow with innumera- 

 ble small stones scattered over its surface, and one side fenced 

 by a natural limestone wall three to five feet in height. The 

 whole is hemmed in with thorn coppices intersected by nu- 

 merous footpaths, the work of those huge creatures, the ele- 

 phant and the rhinoceros, who have probably wandered here 

 for ages in undisputed sway. Here and there an " iron-tree/' 

 the mythological jorogenitor of the Damaras, stands majestic- 

 ally forth, shooting its wide-spreading branches high into 

 space. 



Ghanze, it would appear, has been long known to the Be- 

 chuanas and the Griquas. A party of the latter, I was told, 

 reached it many years previously to my arrival in a despair- 

 ing state, having been obliged to abandon their wagons in the 

 Kalahari. The body of men from whom I obtained my in- 

 terpreter had also visited it. It had even been frequented by 



