THE RHINOCEROS 



he added with an air of final conviction, "it was 

 quite gruesome!" 



The most calm and imperturbable rhinoceros I 

 ever saw was one that made us a call on the Thika 

 River. It was just noon, and our boys were making 

 camp after a morning's march. The usual racket 

 was on, and the usual varied movement of rather 

 confused industry. Suddenly silence fell. We came 

 out of the tent to see the safari gazing spellbound in 

 one direction. There was a rhinoceros wandering 

 peaceably over the little knoll back of camp, and 

 headed exactly in our direction. While we watched, 

 he strolled through the edge of camp, descended 

 the steep bank to the river's edge, drank, climbed 

 the bank, strolled through camp again and departed 

 over the hill. To us he paid not the slightest atten- 

 tion. It seems impossible to believe that he neither 

 scented nor saw any evidences of human life in all 

 that populated flat, especially when one considers 

 how often these beasts will seem to become aware 

 of man's presence by telepathy.* Perhaps he was 

 the one exception to the whole race, and was a good- 

 natured rhino. 



The babies are astonishing and amusing creatures, 

 with blunt noses on which the horns are just begin- 



*Opposing theories are those of "instinct," and of slight causes, such as grass- 

 hoppers heaping before the hunter's feet, not noticed By the man apprfWching. 



317 



