THE WHITE RHINOCEROS 73 



skin, which proclaims at once the nature of the 

 material. 



Although the square - mouthed, so - called 

 " White " Rhinoceros is not found at any 

 point in the region of Zambezia, some passing 

 reference to this remarkable form may not 

 be without interest. Mr. Selous has informed 

 me that when he was hunting in Matabele- 

 land about the year 1872, these immense beasts 

 — second in size only to the elephant — were 

 still so plentiful that, once away from the in- 

 habited areas, he found it not unusual, without 

 any special exertion, to come upon as many 

 as five or six a day. On one occasion he suc- 

 ceeded in killing a large male with a horn of the 

 amazing measurement of more than 50 inches, 

 whilst I have reason to believe that even this 

 gigantic length has been greatly exceeded in other 

 cases. 



Up to about the year 1890, the white rhino- 

 ceros was found, although no longer plentifully, 

 in Mashonaland between the Hunyani and the 

 Angwe Rivers. A Mr. Coryndon, I believe, suc- 

 ceeded in obtaining one or two there a year or two 

 afterwards, and the last of which, so far as I am 

 aware, we have any record was killed in the same 

 district about the year 1894. The only surviving 

 members of this interesting family in South 

 Africa are at present preserved in the Zululand 

 Game Reserve, and are said to number rather less 

 than a score. Of late, unhappily, these animals 

 appear to have been dogged by the very genius 

 of evil fortune, since, I learn, one very fine bull 



