CHAP. ir. RHINOCEROS. 's7 



wild beasts of every description. Sometimes I have seen 

 a troop of lions walk past an old bull with its mouth 

 buried in the pool, and laying themselves down, commence 

 to lap the water within a few yards of him, either party 

 seemingly unconscious of the other's existence ; sometimes 

 I have seen a herd of the beautifully striped koodoos spring 

 away in alarm as their sharp ears caught the heavy footfall, 

 only to return to the water as the grumbling ill-tempered 

 upetyane came into sight, ploughing up the ground in 

 long furrows as it pawed it with its foot, after the manner 

 of savage bulls, but hardly making the antelopes stir as 

 he walked past them into the centre of the pool, and, after 

 drinking, began to roll in it, his great carcase forming 

 deep hollows in the soft mud, and at times nothing but 

 his hideous pig-like head protruding from the water. In 

 winter, when most of the pools have dried up, and more 

 especially in early spring, at the end of September or 

 beginning of October, before the rains have come, and 

 when the heat has already become great, the game con- 

 gregates wherever there is water, and as rhinoceros are 

 extremely fond of rolling in soft mud, it is to such holes 

 as retain water that they go, in preference to the rivers. 

 Gnu, zebra, eland, and other open flat-loving antelopes 

 favour the same spots, and just as the sun is setting, or at 

 early dawn, the most wonderful herds of mixed game may 

 be seen converging from all points of the compass to some 

 water-hole, perhaps the only one within a radius of twenty 

 miles. Among the antelopes and zebra there is always a 

 timid suspicion that their great enemy the lion may be 

 concealed near the spot, and I have seen half a dozen 

 rhinoceroses come down to the water in succession, drink 



