826 AFRICA SPEAKS 



beast had all the advantage, for in a hand-to-hand 

 battle he would have won hands down, while we could 

 not shoot, no matter if he did charge. As he rushed 

 toward my four-thousand-dollar camera, I forgot all 

 else and tried to attract his attention to myself, at the 

 same time looking about for a suitable tree. He came 

 about half way, then showed some hesitation, and, just 

 at this point, Jones got hold of his gun and fired a shot 

 into the air. The report frightened him and away he 

 went, this time in the proper direction for a charging 

 rhinoceros I 



Well satisfied with the day and thankful that nobody 

 had been hurt, we trekked back to our camp on the 

 Nile. Going down to its bank for a swim and to watch 

 the hippos disporting across the way, we discussed the 

 white rhinoceros and its probable fate under any gov- 

 ernment other than that which now protects it. We 

 agreed that it should continue to be protected; for 

 although a formidable beast and well able to hold its 

 own against any opponent in the animal kingdom, it 

 would soon vanish under the gunfire of the modern 

 hunter. 



The white rhinoceros is a left-over from prehistoric 

 times, a weird animal as well as a rare one, a ponder- 

 ous beast still tramping through the torrid heat, amid 

 the silent jungles that skirt the western shores of the 

 ancient Nile. 



