x SENSELESS SLAUGHTER 181 



immediate vicinity. No sooner were the teams un- 

 yoked than the whole party, in the regular routine 

 of business, having assumed their weapons, pro- 

 ceeded to dislodge the enemy, and right stoutly 

 often was the field contested. But where is the 

 quadruped that can stand before the grooved rifle? 

 it will take the conceit out of the most contumacious, 

 and like a sedative, will calm his ruffled temper in 

 a minute. Every individual came in for a share 

 of cold lead and quicksilver ; and the stubborn 

 brute that would not quietly withdraw, satisfied with 

 the mercurial dose he had received, was ultimately 

 badgered to death as a matter of course. Daily 

 almost two or three were thus annihilated within 

 view of the camp." 



Personally, 1 find it impossible to believe, nor 

 does it seem to be implied, that any great danger 

 attended this oft-repeated and senseless slaughter 

 of animals, which were undoubtedly attracted to the 

 waggons by nothing more reprehensible than in- 

 quisitiveness ; just as, when crossing the high downs 

 between the Zambesi and Kafukwe rivers with a 

 train of pack-donkeys in 1888, I was upon several 

 occasions accompanied by herds of wildebeests, 

 which ran alongside of my caravan for considerable 

 distances, their sense of danger entirely overcome 

 by the stronger passion of curiosity. 



It is very evident from Harris's description of 

 the white rhinoceros that he considered this species 

 to be almost equally as dangerous as the black. 

 He states that he found it "subject to the same 

 paroxysms of reckless and unprovoked fury," and 

 "often fully as troublesome as its sable relative." 



The black rhinoceros is often spoken of as a 

 beast of so savage and morose a temper that it 

 will not only attack any animal which may approach 

 it, but in default of anything better, \vill vent its 

 senseless rage on bushes or other inanimate objects. 



