RHINOCEROSES 27 



shot one in the Lado Enclave. It is now known that 

 the species is probably quite as numerous in the Enclave, 

 the north-eastern Congo, and the southern part of the 

 Sudan west of the Nile, as it was in former days in any 

 part of its South African range, and the fact of its presence 

 being for so long unsuspected is the more remarkable, when 

 it is remembered that such a keen zoologist as Sir Samuel 

 Baker spent so long in this very region, and that Emin 

 Pasha, also a zealous naturalist, albeit not a sportsman, 

 was for years at Lado, Rejaf, and Wadelai, round all of 

 which places the animals are very numerous. At a later 

 period, when the tide of Mahdiism was ebbing from the 

 Upper Nile, and European officers and travellers shot 

 many rhinoceroses along its banks, no one seems to have 

 noticed any difference between the ordinary black 

 rhinoceros found on the east bank and the totally different 

 animal across the river. 



The Nile has evidently proved as impassable a barrier 

 to the progress of the square-mouthed rhinoceros from 

 remote times, as to that of his cousin the prehensile-* 

 lipped animal, whose range extends all along the east 

 bank. The nature of the country to east and west is 

 alike in every way, but, though only a few hundred yards 

 of water separate the two species, each seems exclusively 

 confined to its own side. 



Mr. Selous' minute account of the habits of the 

 white rhinoceros in South Africa no doubt applies equally 

 to those of his brother on the west bank of the 

 Nile. He is a sluggish animal by nature, and betrays 

 none of the irritability so characteristic of the black 

 rhinoceros. He seldom charges, and his unsuspicious 

 habits have been the cause of his falling a ready victim 

 to the hunter, both European and native. He is prob- 

 * Adapted for grasping twigs, &c. 



