THE RHINOCEROS 255 



themselves the reputation for charging more often than other 

 beasts, not only from the natives, but from many European 

 sportsmen. To begin with, a rhinoceros rarely drops on 

 the spot to the shoulder- shot, even when hit with a 4-bore 

 bullet, but will dash forward whichever way his head may be 

 pointing in at the time of being fired at, which, as I have said 

 before, may be in the direction of the sportsman. If they 

 should spin round and round, which they very often do, par- 

 ticularly when shot through the iurigs, they will rush off in the 

 direction their heads are in when they cease their gyrations. 

 Should they, however, start off down wind in their first rush, 

 they will very quickly turn up into the wind, and either in so 

 doing, or in rushing straight forward, they are quite as likely 

 as not to come in the sportsman's direction, who, as he will 

 probably be within 80 to 90 yards of the beast before firing, 

 might be led to mistake this headlong rush for a charge. 



I have many times experienced this myself, and have had a 

 rhinoceros come tearing along, snorting like a steam-engine, to 

 within 10 or 15 yards of me ; but with three exceptions, when I 

 was unable for want of covert to keep out of sight, they always 

 turned off to the right or left of me, and did not charge. 



Although I do not consider rhinoceroses very dangerous 

 beasts, I have always had a certain amount of respect for them, 

 and have been careful to use heavy rifles ; still I have had 

 more really exciting encounters with these beasts than with any 

 other of the larger game, and have three times been charged 

 in a determined manner. I account for two of these charges 

 by the fact that I was very close up before firing, failed to knock 

 the beasts down, and was unable to keep out of sight. The third 

 charge, which is the only one worth recording here, occurred 

 in Turkwel on January 25, 1890. I had shot three antelopes 

 on the march, some distance from the footpath, and as there 

 were a great number of vultures about I left a gun-bearer with 

 each beast to keep them off. The last one a G. Grantii had 

 given me a long run, so I left my Winchester carbine with the 

 gun-bearer in charge, as the natives were a treacherous lot and 



