ORDER PERISSODACTYLA : ODD-TOED UNGULATES 411 



Belgian Congo. From Lang's excellent and comprehensive ac- 

 count (1920) the following excerpts are taken: 



The habitat of these white rhinoceroses lies in the northeastern savannah 

 of the Belgian Congo, and beyond it to the Nile (p. 69). 



[They evidently suffered from the rinderpest that] swept across Africa from 

 the northeast in the early nineties .... Only in the last ten years have the 

 white rhinoceroses and other game become sufficiently numerous in that 

 section to figure once more in the natives' larder. (P. 77.) 



[In the territory of Maruka, the great chief of the Logo], the regular 

 annual toll of white rhinoceroses killed by natives for meat exceeded forty 

 (p. 78). [Twenty-nine had fallen to the spear of a single Azande hunter (p. 80).] 



With the exception of man they have no enemies but lions and leopards, 

 which prowl about seeking their young. Near the crossing in a papyrus 

 swamp we came upon the remains of a calf that had been overpowered by 

 two leopards, and later feasted upon by hyenas. (Pp. 87-88.) 



Reproduction is ... unexpectedly rapid .... Often troops of five in- 

 cluded, besides the adults, a calf, a three-quarter grown and another still 

 youthful member. (P. 88.) 



Among the smaller pests that may inconvenience white rhinoceroses are 

 various ticks .... They chiefly infest the softer, wrinkled parts of the 

 hide .... Credited with removing these insects are. the oxpeckers (Buphagus 

 africanus). (P. 88.) 



[A] minute, blood-sucking fly (Lyperosia) is a characteristic companion, 

 constantly hovering in great swarms about their huge prey. . . . The hides 

 of rhinoceroses have thousands of little injuries whose exudations furnish 

 ample nourishment for these insects. 



More remarkable still is an oestrid fly (Gyrostigma pavesii), whose grub- 

 like larvae often cover large portions of the stomach lining .... 



Intestinal parasites, especially round worms (nematodes) are numerous, 

 and most noteworthy is a ... tape worm (Taenia). (P. 89.) 



What has indirectly contributed more than anything else to the gradual 

 extermination of the white rhinoceros are the horns .... They made the 

 horn-bearer a danger, and the horns could be sold. Greek and Hindu traders 

 were ready to buy them at the value of ivory which has proven so fatal to 

 the elephant. Superstitions of peoples in far off Asia made a market for 

 horns, at good prices. Greasy and sleek humanity . . . has been willing to 

 guarantee health to those stolidly believing, so long as the mere powder and 

 scrapings from rhino horns sufficed. The craze among native chiefs to own a 

 horn staff of unsurpassed length helped decimate the white rhinoceroses in 

 South Africa. 



White man, too, has bid for these rarities, and not in vain. Polished and 

 scraped into canes, gold-topped and diamond encrusted, these horns become 

 valuable "curios." Amulets to keep away witchcraft were carved easily, and 

 worn willingly. A cup turned out of rhinoceros horn was believed to splinter 

 at the mere touch of obscure poison .... Now statuettes and other bric-a- 

 brac, fashioned by artists of many lands, still delight those eager for quaint 

 trinkets. 



The many-thonged slave-trader's lash cut out of rhinoceros hide now finds 

 its counterpart in the dainty horse-whip of the more refined. The hide, raw or 

 burnished, or given an amber-like appearance and polish, is often transformed 

 into queer-looking tables, trays, and smaller objects. . . . And finally, indus- 

 try has found that disks cut from the hide and put on the lathe give a 

 high polish and stand great wear. (Pp. 89-90.) 



