34 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA. 



we were about to commence our attack ; but the savages 

 assured me that with these animals this plan was imprac- 

 ticable. I gave myself up therefore entirely to their 

 direction, and we set out armed alike with a good fusee 

 and with the necessary courage. All my hunters wished 

 to be of the party, and each proposed to display the 

 greatest prowess. I caused two of my strongest dogs to 

 be led in a leash, in order that they might be let loose 

 on the rhinoceroses in case it should be found necessary. 

 We were obliged to make a long circuit to gain the lee 

 side of them, lest they should smell us ; and we reached 

 the river, the course of which we followed under cover 

 of the large trees that grew on its banks, when Klaas 

 soon made us observe the two animals at about the distance 

 of a quarter of a league in the plain. As one of them 

 was much larger than the other, I supposed them to be 

 a male and female. Motionless by the side of each other, 

 they were still in the same posture in which Klaas had 

 first seen them, but they stood with their noses to the 

 wind, and consequently presented to us their rumps. 



" It is the custom of these animals when thus at rest to 

 place themselves in the direction of the wind, in order 

 that they may discover by their smell what enemies they 

 have to dread. From time to time, however, they move 

 their heads round to take a look behind them, and to be 

 assured that they are safe on all sides, but it is only a 

 look, and they soon return to their former position. 



" We were already deliberating on the dispositions to 

 be made for commencing the attack, and I was giving 

 some orders to my company, when Jonker, one of my 

 Hottentots, requested that I would permit him to attack 

 the two animals alone as a vekrnyper. 



** My readers will here recollect that, when I fool- 

 ishly attempted to cross the Elephant's river, near its 

 mouth, on the trunk of a tree, Jonker was one of the 

 swimmers who saved my life, and that in return, at the 

 desire of his companions, I raised him to the rank of 

 hunter. At that time he was entirely a novice in this 

 exercise, but I have already remarked that he afterwards 

 became a most excellent shot, and surpassed all the rest 



