xvi THE RHINOCEROS 301 



high speed over a rough surface that would test the endurance of 

 the best horse. 



There is considerable danger in shooting a rhinoceros, owing to 

 the difficulty in stopping a charge. The position of the two horns 

 makes it impossible to reach the brain by a forehead shot, as the 

 bullet, should it strike a horn, would certainly deflect. If you 

 are slightly on one side, there is a direct line to the exceedingly 

 small brain, exactly in front of the eyes, but this is extremely 

 difficult to hit, and must be hazardous. The bone of the skull is 

 the hardest of any animal in existence, and upon one occasion a 

 No. 10 bullet struck the head just in front of the ear, and failed 

 to penetrate. The animal fell to the ground, stunned, but recovered 

 its feet and ran half unconsciously past me, giving me the oppor- 

 tunity to run alongside and fire the remaining barrel behind the 

 shoulder, which immediately finished the encounter. 



I was not aware at the time that the No. 10 leaden bullet had 

 failed to penetrate ; but upon an examination of the head, I found 

 the lead wedged into the joint of the lower jaw ; the skull was 

 slightly fractured, but not actually penetrated. 



Upon another occasion I was stalking a bull rhinoceros which 

 I had observed from a distance, and it had disappeared upon the 

 other side of rising ground. Feeling sure that I should reach it 

 by running quickly forward, upon my arrival at the spot where I 

 had lost sight of my object I detected it among a few bushes not 

 20 yards distant. There were a number of brown-coloured rocks 

 scattered about the surface, nearly as large as ordinary grindstones. 

 Taking advantage of these, I knelt behind one and fired at the 

 shoulder. Instead of falling, the rhinoceros immediately turned 

 towards the smoke, which fortunately was drifting across to my 

 right in a strong breeze. With stupid astonishment it regarded 

 this unsubstantial cause of disturbance, and followed it until I 

 again had a good chance within only a few yards. The No. 10 

 quicksilver and lead conical bullet shot completely through the 

 body, entering behind the right shoulder, and making its exit upon 

 the opposite side. The animal staggered a short distance, and 

 then, emitting a few shrill squeaks, quite disproportioned in sound 

 to the great size of the beast, it fell and died. 



This proved the advantage of a hardened and heavy bullet for 

 such an animal, instead of pure lead, although the latter would 

 have been preferable for a thin-skinned beast. 



Although the rhinoceros is dangerous, I have never heard of 

 many casualties among sportsmen. This may be explained by 

 the comparatively small number of persons who have engaged in 



