SOUTH AFRICA FIFTY YEARS AGO 43 
(R. Simus), and of which we killed three and saw five, there 
_ were three kinds—the Mahoho, the &. Africanus, and the 
2a Keitloa* I say ‘were, for whilst I write I hear that the 
g dear-‘old mahoho is extinct. I am very sorry. He was never, 
I believe, found north of the Zambesi, but between that river 
and the Molopo, of which we have just spoken, he was 
formerly i in great force. Poor old stupid fellow, too quiet 
/ as a rule, though, when thoroughly upset (like a good- 
' “natured man in a passion) reckless, he was just the very thing 
_ for young gunners to try their ’prentice hand on, and directly 
the Kafirs got muskets he was bound to go; though, con- 
sidering the numbers there used to be, I hoped he would have 
_ lasted longer. He had no enemies to fear, save man and the 
ena, and the first without fire-arms would have made but 
le impression on him ; for, although sometimes taken in 
- pitfalls, he was never, so far as I know, killed by spears. 
ae hyzena, when hard pressed for food, would occasionally 
s from behind ; but it was a long business, and not by 
means always successful. The ‘Cape wolf’ must have 
yery hard set before he attempted it. 
= have seen these long-horned, square-nosed creatures in 
€ Be Bias te have been cyolved recently, if I may draw that inference 
"from a highly-coloured print I see in the shop-windows intituled : ‘An African 
a rhinoceros hunt.’ A gentleman, on a fiery rearing steed, is engaging the 
enemy at very close quarters, and, unless he is a left-handed gunner, on the 
impossible side, as he is riding in the same direction as his quarry, and at its 
near shoulder. He may not be answerable for this position of affairs; it looks 
kward but he appears content, and holds his gun firmly by the middle, 
inair. The rhinoceros is the interesting figure in the picture, for he is 
@, like the Asiatic variety, and is either a late discovery, or an escaped 
nen from the travelling show of some African Wombwell. 
Rhinoceroses are puzzles to others besides artists. An old yeoman farmer, 
ay years ago, lay dying near my house; to amuse him I sent some sketches 
d odds and ends, and received a message thanking me, but putting me 
ht as to those fwo-horned creatures being rhinoceroses ; the rhinoceros 
d but ove horn, he had seen it in a book, and it was no use my saying it had 
D, for it hadn't. I suggested to him that we wanderers, who went far 
for hunting and shooting, had a hand in making the books, but he 
In't have it, and died-a firm believer in one horn. 
