THE LAST FRONTIER 



inclined to suspect that some circumstance of food 

 or water rather than a sense of gregariousness had 

 attracted a number of individuals to one locality. 



The rhinoceros has three objects in life: to fill his 

 stomach with food and water, to stand absolutely 

 motionless under a bush, and to imitate ant hills 

 when he lies down in the tall grass. When dis- 

 turbed at any of these occupations he snorts. The 

 snort sounds exactly as though the safety valve of 

 a locomotive had suddenly opened and as suddenly 

 shut again after two seconds of escaping steam. 

 Then he puts his head down and rushes madly in 

 some direction, generally upwind. As he weighs 

 about two tons, and can, in spite of his appearance, 

 get over the ground nearly as fast as an ordinary 

 horse, he is a truly imposing sight, especially since 

 the innocent bystander generally happens to be 

 upwind, and hence in the general path of progress. 

 This is because the rhino's scent is his keenest sense, 

 and through it he becomes aware, in the majority of 

 times, of man's presence. His sight is very poor 

 indeed; he cannot see clearly even a moving object 

 much beyond fifty yards. He can, however, hear 

 pretty well. 



The novice, then, is subjected to what he calls a 

 "vicious charge" on the part of the rhinoceros, 

 merely because his scent was borne to the beast 



298 



