THE PAKT TO AIM AT SELD03I BLEEDS EXTERNALLY. 385 



Though a common leaden ball may do the work well 

 enough, I would not recommend it. The best metal is spel- 

 ter, which has almost the hardness of iron, with all the weight 

 of lead ; but it is often difficult to procure. For want of a 

 better, two thirds lead and one third solder answers the pur- 

 pose very well. 



The most deadly part to aim at is just behind the shoul- 

 der ; a ball through the centre of the lobes of the lungs is 

 certain to cause almost instantaneous death. From the very 

 solid structure of the head, the gi'eat thickness of the hide 

 on that ppi't, the position of the horns, the smallness of the 

 brain,* a shot in the head rarely or never proves fatal. The 

 same may be said of the breast. 



However severely wounded the rhinoceros may be, he sel- 

 dom bleeds externally. This is attributable in part, no doubt, 

 to the great thickness of the hide, and its elasticity, which 

 occasions the hole caused by the bullet nearly to close up, 

 as also from the hide not being firmly attached to the body, 

 but constantly moving. If the animal bleed at all, it is from 

 the mouth and nostrils, which is a pretty sure sign that it is 

 mortally stricken, and the chances are it will be found dead 

 within a short distance. 



The number of rhinoceroses destroyed annually in South 

 Africa is very considerable. Of this some idea may be 

 formed when I mention that Messrs. Oswell and Vardon 

 killed in one year no less than eighty-nine of these animals ; 

 in my present journey, I myself shot, single-handed, nearly 

 two thirds of this amount. 



* Sparrman says that the cavity containing the brains of a rhinoc- 

 eros that he shot was only six inches long, and four high, and of an 

 oval shape. On being filled with peas, it was found to hold barely one 

 quart ; a human skull, measured at the same time, did not require 

 much less than three pints to fill it. 



R 



