NOTES ON SOMALILAND. 99 
fact L met the beast face to face, and he instantly put his head down and 
came for me, but a shot from the ‘577 as he came on, made him swerve off 
to my left, and then, remembering at last my comrade’s advice, I let him 
have the left barrel in the belly, as he presented his broadside. This 
seemed to crumple him up altogether ; he slowed down at once, stopped 
after a few yards, stood quivering for a moment, and then sank on his 
knees and in a minute was hors de combat. Onmy going up to my gallant 
quarry, the reason for all the trouble he had given was apparent. The two 
shots which I had fired at our first meeting (when, as I say, I felt positive 
I was shooting at the point of his near shoulder) were nicely placed in the | 
right buttock! The second two bullets, fired at our second interview, when 
the Midgan was hurt, were both fairly in shoulder, but a little too far 
forward. The shoulderblade was shattered to pieces, but in spite of that 
he had travelled at least 15 miles, and had died game at the end of it, 
The caravan, which was not far off, came up on hearing my shots, and we 
were soon all at work on the carcase, I only wanted the head, but the 
boys were bent on taking slabs of skin for whips and shields, so that it was 
5 p.m. by the time we had finished—too late to get back to headquarters. 
Moreover, I thought the carcase might have feline visitors during the night, 
So we made a small zareba close by, and spent the night sub jove. 
Thus ended a sufficiently exciting tussle with a plucky foe, and I gathered 
one or two useful hints from it, First and foremost—always keep 
your second barrel in reserve till you see whether you are to expecta 
charge or not, and secondly—if you can get him broadside, the belly shot is 
more immediately effective than the shoulder, unless of course yon are 
using a very powerful rifle ; the reason probably being that in this part of 
the Rhino’s anatomy there is such a number of nerves and blood-vessels 
that a bullet planted therein causes him a-violent shock to the system, — 
On his 16 months’ journey to Lake Rudolph, a few years ago, Dr. Don- 
aldson-Smith found Rhino in many places a perfect pest. They would 
frequently rush out at members of his caravan, walking innocently along a 
jungle path, and would even charge through the line of camels; a camel on 
one occasion, too stupid or too lethargic to get out of the way, being 
disembowelled by one. Several of his retainers too were more or less 
damaged ‘by them during the expedition ; but it seems difficult for a Rhino 
to use the point of his horn with good effect against a fallen man, and the 
injuries among his party were invariably limited to a severe bruising and 
shaking, The Doctor on these occasions found that the belly shot never 
failed to bring up a Rhino, and his encounters with the species became of suck 
frequent occurrence that familiarity at length bred contempt, and when the 
trusty ‘577 was at hand, a charging Rhino became a matter of little 
concern—rather of pleasurable excitement. 
( To be continued. ) 
