IN STORMY WEATHER THE NYIKA COUNTRY OFTEN REMINDED ME OF WILD 

 REGIONS IN NORTH GERMANY 



XII 



Catching a Young Rhinoceros 



" r I ^HEN some one will succeed, it is to be hoped, 

 JL in bringing back alive a young rhinoceros from 

 German East Africa. That will be a red-letter day for 

 our Zoological Gardens " thus wrote my friend Dr. L. 

 Heck in 1896, in his book The Animal Kingdom. 



In the same year I trod African soil for the first time. 

 Many illusions, derived from the too optimistic tone of 

 our colonial literature, were soon to be dispelled there, 

 not the least of them being notions about the practicability 

 of getting hold of living specimens of the wild life of the 

 region. 



Many efforts have been made, both in German and 

 British East Africa, to bring back alive to Europe either 

 a young rhinoceros or a young elephant. While no one 

 has yet succeeded in the latter enterprise, I succeeded 

 in the former, but only on my fourth expedition the third 



244 



