n6 THE MAMMALS OF ETHIOPIAN AFRICA 



a spot distant about five-and-twenty miles away from the nearest available water 

 and were under observation for about six weeks. In this case the animals were 

 seen in company at short intervals throughout that period; and it appears 

 sufficiently evident that the calf would have been quite unable to accompany 

 the mother on long and rapid journeys, while, on the other hand, the dam would 

 not have been likely to leave her helpless offspring to the mercy of beasts of prey 

 while she herself travelled fifty miles to drink. 



On the other hand, there is a good substitute for water on the Bur Dab in the 

 shape of a succulent kind of aloe known to the Somalis as dur, which grows 

 abundantly in the district frequented by rhinoceroses. That they eat the thick 

 juicy leaves of this aloe is proved by their stomachs containing dur-fibre, bitten 

 into pieces about an inch and a half in length by half an inch wide. 



The ability of the black rhinoceros to go for weeks at a time without drinking 

 is thus fully explained ; and from other evidence it is apparent that many kinds 

 of ungulate mammals, both in south-western and north-eastern Africa, have 

 accustomed themselves to exist for a considerable portion of the year either 

 without drinking at all or to be content with an occasional visit to water ; obtain- 

 ing such moisture as they require by feeding on the leaves, fruits, or tubers of 

 luscious plants. 



The Somali rhinoceros forms a distinct local race of the species (R. b. somali- 

 ensis), characterised, among other features, by its small size and long and narrow 

 skull, as well as by the peculiar structure of the skin. 



White The second African representative of the group is the white 



Rhinoceros, rhinoceros (R. simus), the largest of land mammals next to the living 

 elephants. Although now almost, if not quite, exterminated in the southern and 

 typical part of its habitat, to which it was long supposed to be restricted, the species 

 survives in the district of Lado, which lies five degrees to the north of the equator, 

 where it is represented by a local race known as R. s. cottoni. From the habitat 

 of the typical white rhinoceros, which is situated between the Orange and Zambesi 

 Rivers, Mashonaland being the headquarters, the tract inhabited by the northern 

 race is separated by some 15° of latitude. 



The white rhinoceros was discovered in 1812 by Burchell in the great tract 

 of open grass-land lying between the Orange and Zambesi Rivers, to which area 

 it appears to have been restricted during the last century. There is, however, 

 a native tradition that in earlier days it also inhabited the grassy plains of 

 Bushmanland, to the south of the Orange River ; this being confirmed by a 

 statement made in 1797 by Sir John Barrow to the effect that in his time a distinct 

 variety of the ordinary African rhinoceros was to be met with in the district in 

 question. But previous to the discovery of the Lado race there was no evidence 

 of the occurrence of a white rhinoceros anywhere north of the Zambesi ; and even 

 now we have no testimony as to its existence between that river and the north- 

 eastern corner of the Victoria Nyanza. The numbers in which these huge animals 

 were met with by Andrew Smith, Cornwallis Harris, Gordon Cumming, Andersson, 

 Oswell, and Vardon, and the ruthless way in which they were shot down by these 

 sportsmen are now matters of history. 



The slaughter, indeed, was carried on with such vigour that some years ago 



