THE HOME OF THE RHINO 117 



ness. Their tails were up and they were snorting 

 like steam engines. When the big one started 

 toward me I fired and it fell like a log. The other 

 one, instead of thundering away, according to ex- 

 pectations, became more belligerent. It ran a few 

 steps, then swung around, and I felt certain that it 

 was going to avenge the death of its comrade. The 

 camera brigade rushed forward, clapping their 

 hands to scare it away, as there was no desire to kill 

 both of the animals. But it refused to go. It would 

 sometimes run a few steps, then it would turn 

 and come toward us. It was evidently in a fighting 

 mood, with no intention of deserting the field of 

 action. Finally by firing shots in the air and yell- 

 ing noisily it turned and dashed over the side of 

 the hill. The photograph, taken at the instant the 

 big rhino was struck, was remarkably dramatic and 

 showed one rhino in an aggressive attitude and the 

 other just plunging down from the shot of the big 

 bullet. 



The front horn of the dead rhino was twenty and 

 three-quarters inches long and in many places the 

 animal's hide was over an inch thick. Strips of this 

 were cut off to make whips, and a large section was 

 removed to be made into a table top. These table 

 tops, polished and rendered translucent by the cur- 

 ing processes, are beautiful as well as extremely in- 

 teresting. The rhino's tongue is even more delicious 

 to eat than ox tongue and rhino tail soup is a great 

 luxury on any white man's table; while the native 

 porters consider rhino meat the finest of any meat to 



