THE HOME OF THE RHINO 107 



vogue invariably describe the rhino as being one of 

 the most dangerous of African animals. A charg- 

 ing rhino, a wounded lion, a cape buffalo, and a 

 frenzied elephant are the four terrors of the Afri- 

 can hunters. All other forms of danger are slight 

 compared with these, and I was full to the guards 

 \vith a vast and fearful respect for the rhino. I 

 fancied myself spinning around like a pinwheel 

 with the horn of a rhino as a pivot, and the thought 

 had little to commend itself to a lover of longevity 

 such as myself, for instance. 



After going to Africa and meeting some of the 

 best members of the rhino set I was able to form 

 some conclusions of my own, chief of which is the 

 belief that he is dangerous only if he hits you. As 

 long as you can keep out of his reach you are in no 

 great danger except from the thorns. 



The prevailing estimate of the rhino is that he is 

 an inoffensive creature who likes to bask under the 

 shade of a tree and watch the years go parading by. 

 His thick skin and fierce armament of horns seem 

 to make of him a relic of some long- forgotten age 

 the last survivor of the time when mammoths and 

 dinosauruses roamed the manless waste and time 

 was counted in geological terms instead of days and 

 minutes. His eyes are dimmed and he sees nothing 

 beyond a few yards away, but his hearing and sense 

 of smell are keen, and he sniffs danger from afar 

 in case danger happens to be to windward of him. 

 His sensitive nose is always alert for foreign and, 

 therefore, suspicious odors, and when he smells the 



