RHINOCEROS HUMTING. 277 



fearing the rain would continue so as to render the vley 

 (through which we must pass to gain the firmer ground) 

 impassable, I ordered my men to prepare to mai'ch, and 

 leave the tent with its contents standing, the point 

 which I wished to gain being distant only about five 

 hundred yards. When the oxen were inspanned, how- 

 ever, and we attempted to move, we found my tackle, 

 which was old, so rotten from the effects of the rain, 

 that something gave way at every strain. Owing to 

 this and to the softness of the vley, we labored on till 

 sundown, and only succeeded in bringing one wagon 

 to its destination, the other two remaining fast in the 

 mud in the middle of the vley. Next morning, luckily, 

 the weather cleared up, when my men brought over the 

 tent, and in the afternoon the other two wagons. 



We followed up the banks of the river for several 

 days with the usual allowance of sport. On the 16th 

 we came suddenly upon an immense old bull mucho- 

 cho roiling in mud. He sprang to his feet immediately 

 he saw me, and, charging up the bank, so frightened 

 our horses, that before I could get my rifle from my 

 after-rider he was past us. I then gave him chase, 

 and, after a hard gallop of about a mile, sprang from 

 my horse and gave him a good shot behind the shoul- 

 der. At this moment a cow rhinoceros of the same 

 species, with her calf, charged out of some wait-a-bit 

 thorn cover, and stood right in my path. Observing 

 that she carried an unusually long horn, I turned my 

 attention from the bull to her, and, after a very long 

 and severe chase, dropped her at the sixth shot. I car- 

 ried one of my rifles, which gave me much trouble, 

 that not being the tool required for this sort of work, 

 where quick loading is Indispensable. 



After breakfast I sent men to cut off the iiead of thia 



