THE RHINOCEROS OF THE LADO 415 



or of the big-game hunter in the remote wilderness. He 

 penetrates to all the out-of-the-way nooks and corners of 

 the earth; he is schooled to the performance of very hard 

 work, to the endurance of fatigue and hardship, to en- 

 countering all kinds of risks, and to grappling with every 

 conceivable emergency. In consequence he is exceedingly 

 competent, resourceful, and self-reliant, and the man of all 

 others to trust in a tight place. 



Around this camp there were no ravens or crows; but 

 multitudes of kites, almost as tame as sparrows, circled 

 among the tents, uttering their wailing cries, and lit on the 

 little trees near by or waddled about on the ground near 

 the cook fires. Numerous vultures, many marabou storks, 

 and a single fish eagle, came to the carcasses set for them 

 outside the camp by Loring; and he took pictures of them. 

 The handsome fish eagle looked altogether out of place 

 among the foul carrion-feeding throng; on the ground the 

 vultures made way for him respectfully enough, but they 

 resented his presence, and now and then two or three 

 would unite to mob him while on the wing. 



We wished for another cow rhino, so as to have a bull 

 and a cow both for the National Museum at Washington, 

 and for the American Museum in New York; and Kermit 

 was to shoot this. Accordingly he and I started off early 

 one morning with Grogan a man of about twenty-five, 

 a good hunter and a capital fellow, with whom by this 

 time we were great friends. It was much like our other 

 hunts. We tramped through high grass across a big, 

 swampy plain or broad valley between low rises of ground, 

 until, on the opposite side, we struck a by-this-time familiar 

 landmark, two tall royal palms, the only ones for some 



