30 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA 



the other, are shorter and more massive. In all rhino- 

 ceroses these horns are a mass of closely and vertically- 

 packed fibres growing from the skin, and with the slightly 

 hollowed base resting upon a small prominence upon the 

 bone of the skull, whence it can easily be detached ; the 

 feet are each provided with three broad nail-like hoofs, 

 so that the track is always an unmistakable one. 



Formerly it was considered justifiable to split up the 

 black rhinoceros into several species, according to the 

 relative lengths of the two horns ; but it is now known 

 that these variations are merely individual eccentricities, 

 and there is but one species throughout Africa. 



At the present day this animal is almost extinct in the 

 Union of South Africa. A few still exist in the north- 

 eastern Transvaal, in the dense bush which extends on 

 both sides of the Portuguese border, between the Sing- 

 witsi River and the Limpopo, and also in the Sabi Bush, 

 on the south bank of that river, where for many years 

 one only was believed to exist, so closely had fear of man 

 induced the animals to remain within the shelter of the 

 thick wait-a-bit thorns. Actually there may be a dozen 

 or more present in the two districts, which, so far as the 

 British side is concerned, are within a Game Reserve ; but 

 this small number holds out little hope of ultimate survival 

 without the aid of fresh blood. The presence of a con- 

 siderable number of rhinoceroses at no great distance in 

 Portuguese territory, however, encourages the hope that 

 recruiting may be possible, if indeed it has not already 

 taken place. On the Maputa River between Bella Vista 

 and the Pongola junction, the road passes through a 

 large extent of very thick bush or forest, and here rhinos, 

 which have been for a good many years strictly preserved 

 by the Portuguese authorities, are pretty numerous, and 

 are reported to inspire a good deal of terror in the natives 



