394 THE GREAT THIRST LAND. 



to these drinking-places not only to assuage their thirst, 

 but to satisfy their hunger. 



To watch one of these pools at night, as I did in 

 the northern Massara country, is a grand sight, and one 

 never to be forgotten. The naturalist and the sportsman 

 can here see sights that will astonish them, and cause 

 them to wonder at the wonderful instincts possessed by 

 the animal kingdom. That the Creator has ordered all 

 things well we know, but the minute details to which 

 they have been reduced is seldom noted except by those 

 who live not the life of the busy trading world, such as 

 wander into those portions of the earth undisturbed by 

 the presence of man. 



At such watering-places the small antelopes invariably 

 drink first, the larger later on, and with them the zebras 

 and buffaloes. After these come the giraffes, closely 

 followed by the rhinoceros, and next the elephant, who 

 never attempts to hide his approach conscious of his 

 strength but trumpets forth a warning to all whom it 

 may concern that he is about to satisfy his thirst. The 

 only animal that does not give place to the elephant is 

 the rhinoceros ; obstinate, headstrong, and piglike, he 

 may not court danger, but assuredly he does not . avoid 

 it. The elephant may drink by his side, but must not 

 interfere with him, for he is quick to resent an insult, 

 and I am assured that when one of these battles takes 

 place the rhinoceros is invariably the victor. The elephant 

 is large, of gigantic power, but the other is far more 

 active, while the formidable horn that terminates his 

 nose is a dreadful weapon when used with the force that 

 he has the power to apply to it. I have been told on 

 trustworthy authority that a rhinoceros in one of those 

 blind fits of fury to which they are so subject, attacked 



