466 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



big, sluggish beast seems fond of nosing the ant-hills of red 

 earth, both with its horn and with its square muzzle; it 

 may be that it licks them for some saline substance. It 

 is apparently of less solitary nature than the prehensile- 

 lipped rhino, frequently going in parties of four or five 

 or half a dozen individuals. 



We did not get an early start. Hour after hour we 

 plodded on, under the burning sun, through the tall, tangled 

 grass, which was often higher than our heads. Continu- 

 ally we crossed the trails of elephant and more rarely of 

 rhinoceros, but the hard, sun-baked earth and stiff, tinder- 

 dry long grass made it a matter of extreme difficulty to tell 

 if a trail was fresh, or to follow it. Finally, Kermit and 

 his gun-bearer, Kassitura, discovered some unquestionably 

 fresh footprints which those of us who were in front had 

 passed over. Immediately we took the trail, Kongoni and 

 Kassitura acting as trackers, while Kermit and I followed 

 at their heels. Once or twice the two trackers were puz- 

 zled, but they were never entirely at fault; and after half 

 an hour Kassitura suddenly pointed toward a thorn-tree 

 about sixty yards off. Mounting a low ant-hill I saw 

 rather dimly through the long grass a big gray bulk, near 

 the foot of the tree ; it was a rhinoceros lying asleep on its 

 side, looking like an enormous pig. It heard something 

 and raised itself on its forelegs, in a sitting posture, the 

 big ears thrown forward. I fired for the chest, and the 

 heavy Holland bullet knocked it clean off its feet. Squeal- 

 ing loudly it rose again, but it was clearly done for, and 

 it never got ten yards from where it had been lying. 



At the shot four other rhino rose. One bolted to the 

 right, two others ran to the left. Firing through the grass 

 Kermit wounded a bull and followed it for a long distance, 

 but could not overtake it; ten days later,* however, he 

 found the carcass, and saved the skull and horns. Mean- 

 while I killed a calf, which was needed for the museum; 



* Kermit on this occasion was using the double-barrelled rifle which had been 

 most kindly lent him for the trip by Mr. John Jay White, of New York. 



