62 THE SPORTSMAN IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



still, even out in the open, a whole troop might possibly pass at close 

 quarters without showing the slightest signs of detection ; but this 

 of course, could not possibly happen unless the wind were favour- 

 able. The exact direction of the latter can readily be ascertained 

 by simply throwing a handful of sand into the air. Anyone under 

 the impression that the huge spoor of an Elephant can at all times 

 be traced with the greatest facility will, in actual experience, be 

 grievously disappointed. Broken down bushes and grass is evidence 

 easily recognisable of the passing of one, but when these are absent 

 and the spoor leads into hard bare ground, it requires the practised 

 acuteness of the Kafirs to follow it with any reasonable speed. 

 When hunted hard in the great heat of the sun, they can be come 

 up to much quicker than at other times, and one of the surest signs- 

 of an Elephant being "dead beat" is when it inserts the trunk into 

 the stomach and, withdrawing it, ejects water all over its. back. 



An almost nightly supply of water is necessary for the existence 

 of these pachyderms, but it is unusual to find them drinking in the 

 day time ; and when the sun is hot they retire into the recesses of 

 the thickest jungle, where they pass the hours standing in sleep. 

 If disturbed at such a moment they are inclined to be far more 

 aggressive than at others. When persecuted for any lengthened 

 period in a particular district, they entirely forsake it, nor do they 

 return to it for perhaps a long time. The flesh is excessively coarse 

 and rank, although all natives hold a contrary opinion. Some 

 portions of the trunk are eatable, while the heart is very acceptable 

 to a hungry hunter. A baked foot was in days gone by considered 

 quite a delicacy, but modern appetites are unable to agree with the 

 tradition. 



The Black Rhinoceros {Rhinoceros bicornis). Fig. 35, 

 Plate X. — [Zwaart Rhinaster of the Dutch ; Borele or Keitloa 

 of the Bechuanas ; Upeygan of the Matabele.) 



[^The black prehensile-lipped Rhinoceros is distinguished from 

 the R. simus by its inferior size and strongly projecting pointed 

 upper lip, which enables it the more readily to browse on twigs, leaves, 

 and roots, on which food it entirely subsists; ears short and rounded, 

 tipped with coarse hair; posterior horn much varies in size in different 

 animals, being in some a jnere excrescence^ and in others developed to 



