RHINOCEROS-SHOOTING 



241 



The upper lip of the rhino overlaps the lower, and is pointed 

 and prehensile. I watched a rhino browsing on the leaves of 

 shrubs and bushes ; it plucked off the single leaves as deftly as 

 any experienced tea-gatherer stripping a tea-shrub of its leaves. 

 It has very small eyes and a short range of vision ; it does not 

 seem to be able to distinguish a human being at a quarter of a 

 mile, even when on a perfectly open plain. 



Rhinos are greatly troubled by small crab-like ticks ; these 

 small red-brown parasites cluster under the tail, along the 

 abdomen and thighs, and around the base of the eye-lashes. 

 Though sight may be somewhat defective, hearing is fairly 

 acute, and scent is extremely keen. I had occasion to notice 

 this at Campi-ya-Simba. Onlv my gun-bearer, as we call the 

 servant who carries one's gun or rifle, was with me, and I had 

 but a single solid Lee-Metford bullet left, when we noticed a 

 pair of rhinos, evidentlv a cow with her calf, on the open plain 

 about a mile and a quarter from us. The calf was lying down, 

 and the cow stood by it motion- 

 less with drooping head. 



We had to pass them, as 

 they were directly in our path ; 

 but we were not anxious to risk 

 an encounter, having but one 

 single solid bullet for our pro- 

 tection. We decided to give 

 them a wide birth, and to 

 outflank them at the same 

 respectful distance of over a 

 mile. As long as the wind was 

 in our favour, the rhinos did 

 not stir ; but as we were 

 bound to pass to windward 

 of them, we kept a wary eye 



on their movements. Though '^ khi.so hl.^u. 



there was but the faintest 



breath of wind, the very instant almost that we got to windward 

 of them, the cow started and turned round and the young 

 one jumped up. Both rhinos appeared greatly alarmed ; and 

 we could see that we were the cause, although invisible to them. 



The rhinos I have shot, amongst them two line old bulls, were 

 all smaller than my hippos. The rhino has three toes, the hippo 



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