«6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 6l 



A permanent camp was established on this spot, the precise geo- 

 graphical position of which is latitude 2° 55' north, on the west bank of 

 the Nile, fifteen miles north of the station of Wadelai. This was 

 Rhino Camp, and in its immediate vicinity the entire collection of 

 rhinoceroses was made. At this point the west bank rises as a low 

 clay bluff some ten or fifteen feet above the river's surface. At the 

 upper end of the bluff a small bay gave a snug anchorage to our 

 boats, and upon its gently sloping shores the camp was pitched. The 

 river here has an elevation of 2,000 feet, being at this point some 

 200 feet lower than the Albert Nyanza. 



The country inland stretched away in low billows, dry, and covered 

 everywhere by a rank growth of tall dry grass interspersed with a 

 few small acacia and Combretum trees. Solitary higlig trees, Bala- 

 nites cegyptica, and Euphorbia Candelabrum stood out conspicuously 

 at long intervals in the landscape. A long distance south of camp 

 two tall borassus palms loomed up growing side by side. These 

 pioneers from .the south were the only palms in the landscape. Bor- 

 dering the Nile were a few of the peculiar Kigelia trees, their large 

 sausage-like fruits giving them a grotesque appearance. 



One of the startling peculiarities of this region is the lack of any 

 fringing forest on the banks of the Nile where there is a permanent 

 supply of moisture favorable to tree growth. The scanty tree vege- 

 tation of the veldt region reaches the river's bank unchanged, giving 

 the effect of a river newly born and cutting its way through the grass 

 and bush plain. The vast areas of feathery papyrus which, in most 

 places, stretched away in the distance as a fringing border on the 

 banks of the Nile relieved this newness, but the swamps were nowhere 

 bordered by forests. Much of the Nile at this point has the appear- 

 ance of a vast papyrus swamp with open stretches of ponds and a 

 labyrinth of stream channels connecting them. All day we were 

 busy unloading the boats and arranging camp. Our first night at 

 Rhino Camp was a novel experience. We were lulled to sleep by the 

 hoarse bellowing of hippopotamuses in the bay calling across the 

 water to one another. 



Early on the day after striking camp, January 10, Colonel Roose- 

 velt, Kermit and Grogan left to search for the huge beasts which 

 were the object of our quest. Cunninghame and the writer, with a 

 band of skinners, trailed after the party at some little distance so as 

 to avoid frightening the game. The country was overgrown by a 

 growth of rank grass which was at this time of year dry and tough. 

 Jt stood over six feet high and prevented us from seeing the hunters 



