In Wildest Africa ^ 



measuring as much as 53^ inches. I remember well the 

 doubts I entertained about a 54-inch horn which I saw 

 on sale in Zanzibar ten years ago, and was tempted to 

 buy. Such a growth seemed to me then incredible, and 

 several old residents who ought to have known something 

 about it fortified me in my belief that the Indian dealer 

 had "faked" it somehow, and increased its length 

 artificially. It might still be lying in his dimly lit shop 

 instead of forming part of my collection, only that on my 

 first expedition into the interior I saw for myself other 

 rhinoceroses with horns almost as long, and on returning 

 to Zanzibar at once effected its purchase. A second horn 

 of equal length, but already half decayed when it was 

 found on the velt, came into my possession through 

 the kindness of a friend. I myself killed one cow- 

 rhinoceros with very remarkable horns, but not so long- 

 as these. 



There is something peculiarly formidable and menacing 

 about these weapons of the rhinoceros. Not that they 

 really make him a more dangerous customer for the 

 sportsman to tackle, but they certainly give that impres- 

 sion. The thought of being impaled, run through, by that 

 ferocious dagger is by no means pleasant. 



In something of the same way, a stag with splendid 

 antlers, a great maned lion, or a tremendous bull-elephant 

 sends up the sportsman's zest to fever-pitch. 



It is astonishing how the colossal beast manages to 

 plunge its way through the densest thicket despite the 

 hindrance of its great horns. It does so by keeping its 

 head well raised, so that the horn almost presses against 



440 



