Hunting In Many Lands 



orders to prepare for a start with apparent 

 cheerfulness. We carried with us one ton of 

 beans and dried bananas as food supply. This 

 was sufficient for a few weeks, but laid me 

 under the necessity of doing some successful 

 shooting, should I carry out my plan of cam- 

 paign. Just on the borders of Masai land live 

 the Useri people, who inhabit the northeast 

 slopes of Kilimanjaro. We stopped a day or 

 two with them to increase our food supply, and 

 while the trading was going on I descended to 

 the plain in search of sport. 



I left camp at dawn and it was not till noon 

 that I saw game. Then I discovered three 

 rhinos; two together lying down, and one soli- 

 tary, nearly 500 yards away from the others. 

 The two lying down were nearest me, but were 

 apparently unapproachable, owing to absolute 

 lack of cover. The little plain they had chosen 

 for their nap was as flat as a billiard table and 

 quite bare of grass. The wind blew steadily 

 from them and whispered me to try my luck, so 

 I crawled cautiously toward them. When I got 

 to within 1 50 yards, one of the beasts rose and 

 sniffed anxiously about and then lay down again. 

 The rhinoceros is nearly blind when in the bright 

 sun — at night it can see like an owl, I kept on, 



34 



