338 WILD ANIMALS. 



slie could not swim, and could only just keep lier head above water 

 by paddling with, the fore-feet like a pig; and secondly, the 

 Kurnafoolie river, when the ordinary cattle ferry-boat was used. 

 Thousands of natives thronged the march in, which occupied a 

 few days, the temporary bamboo bridges on the Government road 

 invariably falling in with the numbers collected thereon to watch 

 the rhinoceros crossing the stream below, and sometimes the pro- 

 cession was at least a mile in length. The ' Begum,' as the 

 rhinoceros has been named, is now free from all ropes, and kept 

 within a stockade enclosure, having therein a good bath excavated 

 in the ground, and a comfortable covered shed attached. She is 

 already very tame, and will take plantain leaves or chuppattees 

 from the hand, and might almost be led about by a string." 



About the same time that " Begum " arrived in England, the 

 Hamburg Zoological Society procured a specimen of a similar 

 beast. It was landed in England and transhipped. A paragraph 

 in the Times, referring to this animal, says : " AJthough it is only 

 two years old, it is about the height of a small horse, but is more 

 bulky. It is," the writer continues, " apparently so healthy, 

 happy, and tame that any one having the courage may safely not 

 only place his hand in its huge, ungainly-looking mouth, but may 

 leisurely take it out again. We saw this demonstrated." 



As before stated, the animals known to inhabit Africa have been 

 divided into five species, but the slight differences existing 

 between them barely warrant this separation, for many of them are 

 only individual variations. However, it may truly be said that 

 several varieties have been recognized, and that on this vast con- 

 tinent there may be others not yet described is within the bounds of 

 probability. In Capello and Ivens' ' book there is the following 

 paragraph : "Apropos of the rhinoceros, our entertainers furnished 

 us with such extraordinary information that we took note of it, 

 and record it here, but we of course do so with the utmost reserve. 

 According to their account there are no fewer than five (some 

 said six) varieties of the animal upon the African continent. Two 

 black, with one or two horns, which of course are the JR. Ucornis 

 and the B. queitloa ; two dark grey, some of which possess two 

 * " From Benguella to the Territory of Yaoca." 



