PACHYDERMATA. 191 



any further injury, whilst he was in vain grappling 

 for his gun to take a shot at the animal in his 

 retreat. But," said he, " though he was too quick 

 for me this time, I may meet him again some day, 

 when I shall not forget to betaal him." * Captain 

 Harris says, " The country now literally presented 

 the appearance of a menagerie ; the hosts of Rhi- 

 noceroses in particular, that daily exhibited them- 

 selves, would almost exceed belief. Whilst the 

 camp was being formed, an ugly head might be seen 

 protruded from every bush, and the possession of 

 the ground was often stoutly disputed. In the field, 

 these animals lost no opportunity of rendering them- 

 selves obnoxious, frequently charging at my elbow 

 when in the act of drawing the trigger at some other 

 object, and pursuing our horses with indefatigable 

 and ludicrous industry, carrying their noses close 

 to the ground, moving with a mincing gait, which 

 ill beseemed so ungainly and ponderous a quadru- 

 ped, and uttering, the while, a sound between a 

 grunt and a smothered whistle. In removing the 

 horn with an axe, the brain was discovered, seated 

 in a cavity below it, at the very extremity of the 

 snout, a phenomenon which may in some measure 

 account for its want of intellect and piggish obsti- 

 nacy, as well as for that extraordinary acuteness 

 of scent with which it is endowed. Irascible beyond 

 all other quadrupeds, the African Rhinoceros ap- 

 pears subject even to unprovoked paroxysms of 

 reckless fury ; but the sphere of vision is so exceed- 



* Steedman's Wanderings in Africa, vol. i. p. 69. 



