HOW TO CATCH A RHINOCEROS. 129 



branch of a tree measuring about six feet, and being 

 about the thickness of a man's thigh, has a deep notch 

 cut round it near one end, and a very stout rope made 

 into a noose is fastened to this : the noose is fitted round 

 a slight wooden hoop having thin wooden spikes pass- 

 ing from circumference to centre. The stump is then 

 buried in the ground, and the hoop placed over a small 

 hole dug in the line of some well-known track, and the 

 surface is most carefully sprinkled over with earth. A 

 rhinoceros or buffalo stepping into this hole is caught 

 by the slip-knot, and if he is strong enough to drag out 

 the stump it remains fixed to his leg, and he is thus 

 easily tracked and ultimately killed with swords and 

 spears, when worn out with his attempts to penetrate 

 the woods with this obstacle to progression fastened to 

 a leg, he is compelled to face his pursuers and suffer a 

 slow and ignominious death. 



Feb. 9. Moved our camp two hundred yards further 

 along the bank as a sanitary measure, for in consequence 

 of the great amount of skin and meat drying our late 

 ground has become a little odoriferous. The present en- 

 campment is a decided improvement in some respects, 

 for it is divided into three parts well separated by trees. 

 No. I is allotted to the Arabs and their camels, and it 

 has been completely fenced in by cut brushwood, the 

 gate consisting of a thick bush which is drawn on one 



K 



