612 THE RHINOCEROS. Chap. XXX. 



The hunter then thought that by making a rush to his side he 

 might succeed in escaping, but the rhinoceros, too quick for that, 

 turned upon him, and though he discharged his gun close to the 

 animal's head he was tossed in the air. My friend was insen- 

 sible for some time, and on recovering found large wounds on 

 the thigh and body : I saw that on the former part still open 

 and live inches long. The white, however, is not always quite 

 safe, for one, even after it was mortally wounded, attacked Mr. 

 Oswell's horse, and thrust the horn through to the saddle, tossing 

 at the time both horse and rider. I once saw a white rhino- 

 ceros give a buffalo which was gazing intently at myself a poke 

 in the chest, but it did not wound it, and seemed only a hint 

 to get out of the way. Four varieties of the rhinoceros are 

 enumerated by naturalists, but my observation led me to con- 

 clude that there are but two ; and that the extra species have been 

 formed from differences in their sizes, ages, and the direction of 

 the horns, as if we should reckon the short-horned cattle a different 

 species from the Alderneys or the Highland breed. I was led to 

 this, from having once seen a black rhinoceros with a horn bent 

 downwards, like that of the kuabaoba, and also because the 

 animals of the two great varieties differ very much in appearance 

 at different stages of their growth. I find, however, that Dr. 

 Smith, the best judge in these matters, is quite decided as to the 

 propriety of the subdivision into three or four species. For 

 common readers it is sufficient to remember that there are two 

 well-defined species, that differ entirely in appearance and food. 

 The absence of both these rhinoceroses among the reticulated rivers 

 in the central valley may easily be accounted for, they would be 

 such an easy prey to the natives in their canoes at the periods of 

 inundation ; but one cannot so readily account for the total absence 

 of the giraffe and the ostrich on the high open lands of the Batoka, 

 north of the Zambesi, unless we give credence to the native report 

 which bounds the country still further north by another network of 

 waters near Lake Shuia, and suppose that it also prevented their 

 progress southwards. The Batoka have no name for the giraffe 

 or the ostrich in their language ; yet, as the former exists in con- 

 siderable numbers in the angle formed by the Leeambye and 

 Ch6be, they may have come from the north along the western 

 ridge. The Chobe would seem to have been too narrow to act as 



