122 ELEPHANT-HUNTING IN EAST AFRICA chap. 



these animals are numerous, the chances of coming across a 

 cantankerous specimen are of course increased in proportion ; 

 and a large caravan is, I think, far more likely to give rise to 

 the aggravating conditions than a few people passing would be. 

 I imagine that, when a rhino is anxious to escape, a long string of 

 porters is apt to give it the idea of being surrounded ; but there 

 is no doubt that, apart from this, one is occasionally liable to 

 be charged. I have myself nowhere met with them in large 

 numbers ; four is the most I have ever seen in one party, and 

 about ten during a long day's hunt would be the limit seen in 

 any one day, and that rarely. Generally speaking, this kind 

 of game is scattered thinly, in parties of two or three or singly, 

 over the country ; but under certain conditions, such as scarcity 

 of water, they may be collected in particular localities. 



I have taken particular notice of their behaviour in every 

 instance among the many opportunities I have had, and I have 

 come to the conclusion that they never charge from scent, but 

 only from sight. My experience is that a rhino invariably runs 

 away on winding human beings (as, I believe, generally speak- 

 ing, do all animals). I have very many times passed close to 

 these creatures, and sometimes had to shout at them to make 

 them get out of the wa}^ That they are excessively stupid 

 there can be no doubt ; and I think it is partly their very 

 stupidity that sometimes leads them to make an attack, through 

 not realising what the intruder really is ; for they will on 

 occasion go for any strange object that may approach them, 

 — as, for instance, I have seen a large stone charged, which 

 one of my men had thrown at a rhino that would not get out 

 of our way. A cow with a calf is, as might be expected, more 

 likely to prove vicious than another. I do not believe that 

 they differ in disposition in different localities, nor do I believe 

 that there is more than one species of (so-called) black rhino- 

 ceros in Africa. 



As Mr. Selous demonstrated long ago, all the different 

 patterns of horns may be found in the same district, and 



