34 



RHINOCEROSES 



rhinoceroses, the danger not being comparable in any way with that 

 attending the pursuit of the elephant. At the same time, there is 

 always a possibility that one may charge, and there is accordingly a 

 certain amount of excitement in the sport ; instances not being rare of 

 men having been badly injured by these beasts. If a rhinoceros 

 charge home, he is generally not difficult to dodge, and when dodged 

 he commonly goes right on. When suddenly disturbed, in his first 

 rush he makes a great puffing and snorting, particularly disconcerting 

 in thick covert when the beast is hidden and it is impossible to tell 

 which way he is coming. 



" The Ndorobo, who kill them with their large assegais, or trap 



Fig. 12. — A Black Rhinoceros in jungle, trom a photograph by Mr. Norman B. Smith. 



them in the same manner as elephants, have far less fear of rhinoceroses 

 than of elephants ; and as a consequence it is rare to sec a rhinoceros 

 in country much frequented by tribes of these people, who have much 

 skill and courage in elephant-hunting. The same remark applies to 

 Swahilis, many of whom think nothing of shooting a ' faro,' though they 

 would not dream of attacking an elephant. The Wasanya, who stand in 

 the same relationship to the Galas as the Ndorobo do to the Masai, used 

 to kill both rhinoceroses and elephants with their powerful bows and 

 arrows ; while, owing to the aid of poison, the puny weapons of the 

 Wakamba are occasionally capable of making one of these monsters 

 bite the dust." 



According to Mr. A. H. Straker, the black rhinoceros in Somaliland 

 is subject to considerable variation in the matter both of bodily size 



