ORDER PERISSODACTYLA: ODD-TOED UNGULATES 405 



these animals plentiful to the south of the mountainous tract of country 

 which extends eastwards from the Victoria Falls to the junction of the Gwai 

 and Tchangani Rivers. . . . 



In the country to the north-east of Matabeleland, between the Sebakwe 

 and the Manyami Rivers, white rhinoceroses were still fairly numerous in 

 1878, . . . and their numbers only commenced to be seriously reduced after 

 1880. About that time rhinoceros horns . . . increased very much in value, 

 and . . . the traders in Matabeleland employed natives to shoot rhinoceroses 

 for the sake of their horns . . . and their hides, which were utilized as waggon 

 whips and sjamboks. 



One trader alone supplied 400 Matabele native hunters with guns and 

 ammunition, and between 1880 and 1884 his large store always contained great 

 piles of rhinoceros horns, often the spoils of 100 of these animals at one time, 

 although they were constantly being sold to other traders and carried south 

 to Kimberley on their way to England. What caused this sudden demand 

 for short rhinoceros horns from 1880 to 1885 I do not know. But this freak of 

 fashion in knife handles, combs, or what not sounded the death-knell to the 

 white and black rhinoceros alike in all the country that came within reach 

 of the Matabele native hunters. [From 1892 to 1895 several of the few re- 

 maining animals between Salisbury and the Zambesi were killed. Perhaps a 

 dozen survived by 1899.] 



"Possibly a few may still linger, in the neighbourhood of the 

 Angwa River in Northern Mashonaland" (Selous, 1914, p. 15) . 



"I have very definite information that about 7 of these animals 

 still exist on the Portuguese-Nuenetsi Border; they have not been 

 seen by Europeans, but well-trained native shikaris have reported 

 them on several occasions" (J. F. Fleming, 1931, in Shortridge, 

 1934, vol. 1, p. 426). 



"It is rumoured that a few still exist in that locality [between 

 the Umniati and Hunyani Rivers], but . . . only native information 

 is available .... Many white people visiting the area and even 

 those stationed in it declare that there are white Rhino present today 

 but no concrete proof . . . can be obtained. It is also rumoured 

 that a few white Rhino exist on the Portuguese Rhodesia border 

 near Nuanetsi Ranch .... The areas in which the animals may 

 still exist are both inaccessible and in the case of the Umniati area 

 . . . there is a danger of sleeping sickness ; these conditions serve to 

 protect all fauna and the white Rhino as well should it still exist. 

 Legally considered as 'Royal Game.' " (Game Warden, Wankie 

 Game Reserve, in litt., March, 1937.) 



Transvaal. Harris (1839, pp. 160, 174, 221) found numbers of 

 this species along the Marico and Crocodile Rivers. On one occa- 

 sion, in a distance of half a mile, "we counted no less than twenty- 

 two of the white species of rhinoceros." 



"In 1871 . . . these animals were still numerous in ... certain 

 portions of the Eastern and South-Eastern Transvaal. . . . 



"The flesh of the white rhinoceros was always considered by both 



