126 THE LAND OF THE LION 



he is not justified in taking. I have written at length of 

 lion hunting in another chapter, but here let me jot down 

 a few things about the other savage beasts; and will my 

 reader please always remember that I am not trying to 

 instruct the experienced, but seeking to help the inex- 

 perienced sportsman. And as I attempt to do so, may 

 happily interest some, who would like to know a little of 

 that wild life circumstances have denied them chances to see. 



Take the rhino, a great lumbering brute he seems as 

 you look at him, with his extraordinary ill-formed, ugly 

 head, small pig eye, and formidably armed snout. He 

 weighs perhaps two tons, and looks as though nothing 

 could stop or turn him. I have myself no doubt from what 

 I have seen, and also from what I have heard, that the 

 rhino, like our grizzly, is losing in the presence of well 

 armed man, a good deal of his pugnacity. He very seldom 

 charges deliberately. I have approached fifty rhinos,* 

 and beyond the usual stamping and snorting (his method 

 of greeting an object he cannot make out), I have never 

 seen any of them show determination to attack. (Later 

 I had good reason to modify this statement.) Yet if you 

 are to believe stories you hear of men who have seen 

 but one or two, and indeed I must add stories told by some 

 old hands, you would expect every second rhino you meet 

 to charge you without warning. 



When a rhino receives a shot he is apt to spin around 

 once or twice, and rush off at a great pace, leaving the 

 direction of that rush almost to chance, though he will 

 go up wind usually if he can. He may happen to take 

 your direction, most probably he will not. He cannot see 

 you at more than thirty of forty yards off. But he is cer- 

 tainly very sensitive to the footfall of man or horse, and 

 sometimes, even the wind, of course, being favourable for 

 it shows signs of alertness, at a hundred yards distance. 



*And many more since this was written. 



