Rhinoceros 



quietly from some thick bush, and was horrified 

 to find myself surrounded on three sides by four 

 rhino, the nearest twenty yards, and the farthest 

 fifty yards away. All had got my wind, and had 

 their heads up. I did not like taking on the 

 chances of four rights and lefts, added to which 

 I did not want a rhino at all, as the eland ought 

 to have been round the next corner (and were). 

 I hoisted the white flag, and thanked my stars 

 when I had got clear. 



Their hide is a good inch thick, and polishes 

 with oil and sand-paper till it is quite transparent. 

 Table-tops made of the skin look very well, and 

 whips and sticks are also admired. The whip is 

 the toy with which punishment is administered 

 to the naughty porter, and is misnamed "kiboko," 

 that being the native name for the hippopotamus. 

 A short horn is worth keeping, as it makes a first- 

 rate inkpot or paper-knife. The bull has a thicker 

 horn and usually a shorter one than a cow's, 

 which sometimes grows to a yard in length. 



On the Tana River they drank at 5.30 a.m., 

 fed till 10 a.m., and appeared again after their 

 siesta at about 4 p.m. On Laikipia they seemed 

 to sleep less in the middle of the day. On the 

 Guaso Nyiro, on the German border, I only saw 

 a small one, although I know for certain that 

 there were some huge ones there. In that dis- 

 trict they always fed in the night, and had gone 

 to lie up in the thick stuff by 5 a.m. My friends 

 F 81 



