OUR THIRD SAFARI AND SECOND RHINO 



dangerous. It is a curious fact, but in shooting 

 these huge animals it is the Jirst bullet that counts ; 

 the shock to their system is so great then, and if in 

 an absolutely vital spot, all goes well (for the sports- 

 man), they can be finished off easily ; but if the first 

 shot is careless the other shots take little or no 

 effect — unless happening to hit one of the very few 

 vital spots ; their system does not appear to suffer 

 from a second shot, and it takes several to finish 

 them off. 



Several times again my husband tried for that 

 annoying waterbuck, but he always separated from 

 the does and escaped from view. In the night I 

 heard a strange noise, a cross between a lion's roar 

 and a cow's moo ; I thought it was the former, but 

 the porters told me it was a waterbuck crossing 

 quite near our camp. Several times I heard the 

 bushbuck — they bark rather like a dog ; so do 

 zebra. 



On New Year's Day, 1907, we were both up very 

 early indeed, back in the camp near the policeman's 

 hut. My husband went out to try and find a hippo 

 on land, as they come ashore at night, we knew 

 by their many tracks leading from the lake, but 

 without success. Meanwhile I watched the water- 

 buck return from the lake where they go at dawn 

 to drink. Such clumsy, pretty, huge creatures, 

 four does, one young one and a buck, sometimes 

 galloping, sometimes stopping and looking fearfully 



197 



