l6 THE GAME OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA. 



So we get out of every two hundred and fifty rhino about one which is a really 

 bad rhino and which will, if he gets your wind, without any act of aggression on 

 your part, try his best to do some damage. 



I do not claim any special value for my statistics, but I do claim that such 

 calculations should be on these lines, rather than the usual procedure of laying 

 down general rules, to which it is expected that every rhino will conform, whether he 

 is wounded or unwounded, or of whatever temperament he may be. 



One man, who has seen, perhaps, half a dozen rhino in his life, says that on 

 getting your wind they will always run away. Another, who has shot one, says that 

 they always charge, but that the charge is blind and that they are unable to turn. 

 Even men of considerable experience are often apt to try to lay down such hard- 

 and-fast rules. 



The only general rule, to the best of my belief, that can be said to apply 

 to rhino, is that, if there are two rhino together, they will nearly always do 

 exactly the same thing and go exactly the same way. The reason for this is that 

 two together generally consist of a female and young. Even when male and female, 

 however, they generally behave in exactly the same way. 



To return, however, to our statistics above. Presuming that they are 

 approximately or very roughly correct, let us make further deductions from 

 them. 



If we are in an open country the chances are that we will be able to 

 walk about for a considerable time without betraying ourselves to any rhino, 

 bad or otherwise. If, however, we are in a slightly wooded and bushed country, and 

 are seeing at the rate of about ten or fifteen rhino a day (no uncommon quantity in 

 some unvisited parts), the chances are that we are also passing close to another 

 fifteen or so which we do not see. 



Of these let us put half upwind and half downwind. That will leave an 

 average of seven and a half per diem of unseen rhino getting one's wind. Thus, 

 in such a country we have three false alarms every two days, a rhino pushing 

 home to close quarters every three to four days, and a bad rhino about once a 

 month, — sufficiently alarming experiences should you stop long in such a country. 



In thick thorn or elephant grass it would be still more alarming. 



Where, however, white men have been a good deal, the chances are that the 

 proportion of bad and charging-home rhino has been considerably reduced, as they 

 have rather put themselves in the way of extermination. On the other hand, there 

 might be wounded rhino about which would be feeling worse tempered than was 

 their wont. 



