HUNTING IN AFRICA 127 
He is not hard to kill for all his thick hide, and, most for- 
tunate of all, he is not hard to turn, when he does come 
your way. 
The danger with the rhino is, that in an extraordinary 
way, he manages to conceal himself in cover, when it would 
seem impossible, and getting the wind of the hunter or the 
sefari, as he is taking his siesta in the brush, he stumbles 
forth blindly and in a hurry going up into the tainted 
breeze. Your porters’ loads go cracking down, and men 
and totos take to the trees. In this way damage is some- 
times done. But there are many, many scares for one 
man really hurt. 
I had once a rhino thrust his head out of a bush on 
to me, at not more than three or four feet distance. My 
useless gunboy bolted; and so did the poor beast, when I 
had to fire quickly in his face. I don’t think I hurt him 
much, I am sure I hope [ did not, but he might have crushed 
me had I not fired, and, of course, to take chances of his 
turning away at that distance, were not to be thought of. 
If his temper is up, and he comes right on, a shot from 
a good rifle will always make him swerve in his charge, and 
pass you a few yards to one side. If you want to kill him, a 
shot as he passes will usually do it. Small-bore rifles 
seem to kill rhino almost as quickly as large. Better use 
nickel bullets. 
Buffalo are more plentiful than they were a few years 
ago. The cattle plague almost exterminated them in some 
districts where it used to be possible to get a fair head. 
But, at best, buffalo are hard to bag in British East Africa. 
They frequent the denser thicket country generally near 
rivers, feed early in the morning, and late in the evening, 
and at the slightest alarm plunge into scrub, when it is 
highly imprudent to follow them if wounded. Unwounded, 
even a cow when followed by her calf, will sometimes 
charge desperately. If the ground is at all open, and 
