CH. xiv] SQUARE-MOrTHED RHTXOS 395 



evening and morning, usually at some bay or inlet of 

 the river. In the morning they walked away from the 

 water for an hour or two, until they eame to a place 

 which suited them for the day's sleep. Unlike the 

 ordinary rhinoceros, the square-mouthed rhinoceros 

 feeds exclusively on grass. Its dung is very different ; 

 we only occasionally saw it deposited in heaps, according 

 to the custom of its more common cousin. The big, 

 sluggish beast seems fond of nosing the ant-hills of red 

 earth, both with its horn and with its square muzzle ; it 

 may be that it licks them for some saline substance. It 

 is apparently of less solitary nature than the prehensile- 

 lipped rhino, frequently going in parties of four or five 

 or half a dozen individuals. 



We did not get an early start. Hoiu- after hour we 

 plodded on, under the burning sun, througli the tall, 

 tangled grass, which was often higher than our heads. 

 Continually we crossed the trails of elephant and more 

 rarely of rhinoceros, but the hard sun-baked earth and 

 stiff, tinder-dry long grass made it a matter of extreme 

 difficulty to tell W a trail was fresh, or to follow it. 

 Finally, Kermit and his gun-bearer, Kassitura, dis- 

 covered some unquestionably fresh footprints which 

 those of us who were in front had passed over. Imme- 

 diately we took the trail, Kongoni and Kassitura acting 

 as trackers, while Kermit and I followed at their heels. 

 Once or twdce the two trackers were puzzled, but they 

 were never entirely at fault ; and after half an hour 

 Kassitura suddenly })ointed tow^ard a thorn-tree about 

 ' sixtv vards off. Mountintr a low ant-hill I saw rather 

 dimly through the long grass a big grey bulk, near the 

 foot of the tree : it was a rhinoceros lying asleep on its 

 side, looking like an enormous pig. It heard something 

 and raised itself on its fore-legs, in a sitting posture, the 



