by F. Vaughan-Kirby. 225 
much more recently than has actually been the case, because 
there is no doubt that long periods of time are necessary to bring 
about important changes in old and fixed types, such as rhinoceroses are. 
In Zululand, at the present day, the white rhinoceros is to be found 
only in the Mfolozi Game Reserve, which is situated between the two 
Mfolozi Rivers, the White on the south, and the Black on the north, 
and in a narrow strip of country along the south bank of the former 
river. ‘The area included within the Reserve is about 75,000 acres, 
and that to the south of the White Mfolozi about another 15,000 acres. 
From time to time evidence has been adduced which indicates that 
there may be a few of these animals, probably not exceeding five or 
six in number, in the dense bush at the north end of False Bay, but I 
have never yet been able to confirm this. Owing to the indiscriminate 
manner in which the natives apply the term “’mkombo ” (actually the 
White Rhinoceros) alike to the white species and to any large full- 
grown bull of the black, a great deal of misunderstanding at one time 
existed as to the actual localities in which the former was to be found. 
When I first came to Zululand I was informed not only by the Provincial 
Administration officials but by the Magistrate of the Division 
concerned, and by the native Game-guards, that the *‘’mkombo” was 
plentiful in the Hluhluwe Game Reserve, situated to the north of the 
Mfolozi Reserve. Personal observation during an extended patrol in 
the former convincingly proved that the white rhinoceros did not 
exist there at all, aud the error was explained when, upon one occasion 
a large black rhinoceros bull was encountered at very close quarters, 
and my Game-guards at once said “ there you are, there’s an ’mkombo.” 
The fact is that none of those particular men who were with me at the 
time had ever seen a white rhinoceros, but had fallen into the habit of 
applying the word, which really signifies the white species, to large 
bulls of the black. When subsequently they were shown, first the 
different nature of the dung, and afterwards the animals themselves, 
they realised the extent to which their previous reports had been 
misleading. 
Mr. Edmund Heller when describing the geographical range of 
this species falls into an error. He writes: “In the south 
there are a few (some ten individuals) strictly preserved on an estate 
in Zuzuland (sic) where they live under fairly normal conditions.” He 
may rest assured that he has not over-estimated the number of white 
rhinoceroses on this little “estate,” and that the animals are living 
under conditions which are practically as normal as those which 
obtain on the Nile. 
