234 STALKS ABROAD 



or clustered in groups within the welcome shade, were 

 some seventy eland. I afterwards discovered a salt 

 lick near, which they visited every day. The bull 

 had a nice head, but I already had one, so left him 

 in peace. Lower down this ravine we came on a 

 troop of monkeys and a small herd of impala. Along 

 the borders of the swamp I saw any amount of duck 

 and snipe. The latter, I fancy, are a good deal larger 

 than an English bird, though I never shot one. 



It was on 2nd April that I first came to close 

 quarters with a rhino. About a mile from camp, 

 as we followed the course of the river, great excite- 

 ment was manifested by the porters. I caught the 

 word "rhino" from Hassan, and thinking that we 

 were going to be charged, jumped off my pony 

 and hastily shoved a couple of solids into the rifle. 

 I then discovered that the animal they had seen was 

 quite a quarter of a mile away, going over the sky-line. 

 We were at the bottom of the same ravine in which 

 I had seen the eland, though about a mile from 

 that spot. On reaching the top, we could see nothing, 

 though big footprints in the soft earth proved that 

 the men had not been deceived. We followed the 

 footprints for a mile or so across the plain, and then 

 in some straggling mimosa scrub discovered our beast. 

 It is no difficult matter to pass a rhino by within 

 a few hundred yards, even on ground of this kind. 

 They blend in wonderfully with their surroundings 

 despite their huge bulk. In strong sunlight they 

 may look almost any colour from black to bluey grey, 



