126 THE LAND OF THE LION 
he is not justified in taking. I have written at length of 
lion hunting in another chapter, but here let me jot down 
a few things about the other savage beasts; and will my 
reader please always remember that I am not trying to 
instruct the experienced, but seeking to help the inex- 
perienced sportsman. And as I attempt to do so, may 
happily interest some, who would like to know a little of 
that wild life circumstances have denied them chances to see. 
Take the rhino, a great lumbering brute he seems as 
you look at him, with his extraordinary ill-formed, ugly 
head, small pig eye, and formidably armed snout. He 
weighs perhaps two tons, and looks as though nothing 
could stop or turn him. I have myself no doubt from what 
I have seen, and also from what I have heard, that the 
rhino, like our grizzly, is losing in the presence of well 
armed man, a good deal of his pugnacity. He very seldom 
charges deliberately. I have approached fifty rhinos,* 
and beyond the usual stamping and snorting (his method 
of greeting an object he cannot make out), I have never 
seen any of them show determination to attack. (Later 
I had good reason to modify this statement.) Yet if you 
are to believe stories you hear of men who have seen 
but one or two, and indeed I must add stories told by some 
old hands, you would expect every second rhino you meet 
to charge you without warning. 
When a rhino receives a shot he is apt to spin around 
once or twice, and rush off at a great pace, leaving the 
direction of that rush almost to chance, though he will 
go up wind usually if he can. He may happen to take 
your direction, most probably he will not. He cannot see 
you at more than thirty of forty yards off. But he is cer- 
tainly very sensitive to the footfall of man or horse, and 
sometimes, even the wind, of course, being favourable for 
it shows signs of alertness, at a hundred yards distance. 
* And many more since this was written. 
