chap. ii. RHINOCEROS. 105 



time, and which is so refreshing after the furnace-like 

 stillness and glare of the day. Rubbing my eyes, I 

 climbed into my perch, and before long was surrounded 

 by all the smaller animals and birds which had come to 

 drink on the preceding night, and which, though I had 

 seen them hundreds of times before, never wearied me in 

 watching them. There was always variety. To-night a 

 herd of wild pigs came rooting down the bank among the 

 first arrivals, and remained in sight until dark, grubbing 

 up the soil with their long snouts in search of the succu- 

 lent roots on which they live, and among them was an 

 immense old boar, with tusks forming three-quarters of a 

 circle : one could not help being struck with the family 

 resemblance he displayed both to elephants and rhino- 

 ceroses. 



There was a large herd of impalla too, whose sleek 

 skins, terminating in the purest white beneath, and set 

 off by black points, and by a streak of similar colour that 

 extends along the back, showed that they were now in 

 the highest condition, as indeed at this time of year they 

 always are. There was a little clump of bush standing 

 alone on the flat above the pool, and as the herd retired, 

 grazing as they went, a young ram went close to it. I 

 was watching them at the time, admiring then- graceful 

 movements as, spreading out like a herd of sheep, they 

 commenced feeding, though, as is the case with all gre- 

 garious antelopes, there was always some head up in 

 search of any sign of danger, which, if seen, would at once 

 have been announced to the others by a signal of alarm, 

 resembling a suppressed sneeze, causing them to cease 

 feeding, and to gaze in the direction indicated, from which, 



