io68 THE UNGULATES, OR HOOFED MAMMALS 



eighteen and nineteen feet; but this seems quite incredible, more especially as the 

 proportions of our figure indicate that the length was rather more than double the 

 height, which would make it about fourteen feet. One of the specimens referred to 

 below has a length of twelve feet one inch, and a height at the shoulder of six feet 



two inches. 



There is fully as much variation in the relative length of the horns as in the 

 common species, the second horn being sometimes a mere stump, and at others at- 

 taining a length of two feet, while in some instances both are comparatively short. 

 The front horn is, moreover, liable to considerable variation in shape. Thus, in the 

 typical form of the species, it curves backward in a more or less bold sweep, as shown 

 in our figure of the head, the individuals exhibiting this form being known to the 

 Bechuanas by the name of mohohu. In other cases, as shown in our illustration of 

 the entire animal, the front horn is nearly straight, with a forward inclination, 

 specimens with this type of horn being designated by the natives as the kabaoba. 

 When the anterior horn is straight and attains the length of about a yard, the point 

 touches the ground as the animal walks along when feeding, and such horns conse- 

 quently always show a flat surface on the front of the tip produced by friction. It 

 was at one time considered that the mohohu and the kabaoba were distinct species, 

 but Mr. Selous has shown not only that they consort together, but that there is a 

 complete transition from the one type of horn to the other. As a rule, the horns of 

 females are longer, and more slender than those of males. 



The longest-known horn is one of the kabaoba type in the British Museum, of 

 which the total length is fifty-six and one-half inches. The history of this speci- 

 men is unknown, but it has been in the collection for a very long period. Next to 

 this is an example of the mohohu type recorded by Mr. Selous, of which the length 

 is given as fifty-four inches. Other fine specimens of the front horn measure 44, 

 42! , 40, and 38^- inches. In examples where both horns have been preserved, the 

 length of the front one in one case is thirty-seven and three-eighths and that of 

 the back seventeen and seven-eighths inches, while in another these dimensions 

 are thirty-three and thirteen inches. At the time when these rhinoceroses were 

 abundant it was the ambition of every South- African chief to possess a long staff, or 

 kerrie, made from a front horn; and it is, therefore, as Mr. H. A. Bryden suggests, 

 highty probable that the largest dimensions recorded above may have been consider- 

 ably exceeded. 



The range of this rhinoceros was always limited, and apparently 

 never extended north of the Zambezi; this restricted distribution be- 

 ing, as already mentioned, largely due to the creature's grass-eating habits. For 

 the last seventy or eighty years it has been unknown to the south of the Orange 

 river, but, according to Mr. Bryden, there is a tradition that it formerly roamed 

 over the greater part of the Cape Colony. About the middle of the present century, 

 when Gordon Gumming, and afterward Andersson, made their well-known hunt- 

 ing tours, Burchell's rhinoceros was comparatively common in parts of the Kala- 

 hari desert, Ngamiland, and various districts between the Orange and Zambezi 

 rivers. Indeed, Gordon Gumming states that on one occasion he saw upward of 

 twelve of these magnificent animals together in long grass, while Andersson and 



