POWER OF ONSLAUGHT 
it ranged throughout eastern Africa from Natal to Abyssinia, 
but kept away from the forested region west of the great lakes. 
It was everywhere fairly numerous, wandering about in family 
parties or singly, and scrambling up and down rough hills with 
astonishing agility, while its pace, when alarmed, taxed a good 
horse to equal. An odd dif- 
ference from the other species [f Py 
is that when a calf runs with |f 
ff 
its mother it races by her side iy iy y 
or heels, and not ahead, under Ih mn ia \ 4 
her guiding horn. l\ \\ Cis. SN 
_ Extremely keen of scentand j en ™\\ 
hearing, one of these animals » peak 
is not easily surprised; and ( ON 
when it catches the alarming si Ns 
+s Canine 
human odor, inspired by that Lec ilies’ 
sudden blind and_insensate (Ue oon Sige 
fury which seems character- HS. il 
istic of most  rhinoceroses, . ‘ 
it will spring to its feet, pre- 
pared not only for self-defense, 
but to rush out and attack itsenemy. Lowering its great head 
until the horn on its snout points straight forward, it charges 
like some armored knight with lance in rest, and overcomes 
what it strikes by mere weight of onslaught, then returns to 
trample out what shreds of life remain in its fallen foe. 
Often, however, an apparent charge is merely a blind rush 
from panic, dodging which a man is safe, for the beast flees 
straight away for miles. So sharp is the horn and so enor- 
mous the strength of the head and neck behind it, that a 
rhinoceros is able to disembowel and toss over his back any 
smaller animal, while he can upset and rip open even the 
elephant if he can get an opportunity for a flankwise attack ; 
but elephants are extremely cautious when rhinos are about. 
383 
COMMON AFRICAN RHINOCEROS, 
