280 MR. T. E. BUCKLEY ON THE GEOGRAPHICAL [Mar. 7, 



Forest, the Elephant may he considered extinct in the Cape colony 

 and Natal. Seven and twenty years ago it was found in the bush 

 around the town of D' Urban in the Natal colony, but now is 

 almost exterminated even in the Zulu and Amaswazi countries. 

 In the great reed-beds that exist in the neighbourhood of Santa- 

 Lucia Bay in the former country, a few still remain, owing to the 

 almost impossibility of getting at them ; and in the Amaswazi 

 country a few, I am told, are occasionally found under the Bombo 

 Mountains. North of Delagoa Bay they get more numerous, espe- 

 cially so, I am told, in Umsila's country. In the Matabili land the 

 Elephant is to a certain extent preserved, no one being allowed to 

 hunt these animals without the permission of the king. North of the 

 Zouga they are still fairly numerous ; but with the immense number 

 of hunters and traders, the destruction must be great indeed, and 

 bids fair to exterminate the race in South Africa altogether, espe- 

 cially when we consider the very slow rate at which these creatures 

 increase, and that cows and bulls are shot indiscriminately. 



North of the Zambesi the Elephant is found through Central 

 Africa into Abyssinnia, and along parts of the west coast. In some 

 places they occur in vast herds, as seen by Livingstone (Zambesi 

 Tributaries, p. 134), cows and bulls together. The number of 

 trees destroyed by these animals is enormous ; along the rivers 

 Makloetze and Shashai, in the Bamangwuto district, the thick 

 mimosa-groves which border their banks have been altogether de- 

 stroyed by the ravages of these creatures. 



The tusks of the cow Elephant are much thinner than those of 

 the bull ; but the hollow inside does not extend so far down. The 

 largest tusk I heard of was one brought from Lake Ngami in 1872 ; 

 this weighed 1 70 lb. ; but its iellow was rotten and worthless. I 

 have seen a pair weighing 90 lb. each ; but such a perfect pair are, 

 I believe, not common. 



When Elephants are disturbed by shooting now, they often go 

 great distances, passing through a large extent of thirst-land to a 

 distant water ; so fearful are they of fire-arms. 



2. Rhinoceros keitloa. (The Keitloa Rhinoceros.) 



3. Rhinoceros simxjs. (The White Rhinoceros.) 



Of African Rhinoceroses there are at least three distinct species, the 

 fourth, R. oswellii, being, I fancy, rather a doubtful one. The two 

 "black" species are It. bicornis and R. keitloa ; they may at once 

 be distinguished from the White Rhinoceros by their overhanging 

 upper lip, which enables them to grasp the bushes on which they, 

 I believe, exclusively feed. The only black species I met with was 

 R. keitloa, observed on two occasions — once singly, another time an 

 old female and her calf about half-grown, which latter was secured. 

 Owing to incessant persecution these animals are now getting scarce, 

 eight Rhinoceroses only having been seen by our party. At one 

 time they must have been extremely common, judging from the 

 number of skulls seen lying about. Harris, in his description of R. 



