708 
MR. G. H. GURNEY ON NATURAL HISTORY 
and fine, while one longed to be able to collect all the splendid 
Grasshoppers, Diptera and Beetles which we were constantly 
coming across.” 
We had now got into regular ‘ Rhinoceros ground,’ and 
were constantly on the look out for them ; the country was very 
pretty and undulating, with hills and ravines, by the rivers 
splendid trees, tropical creepers and thick bush ; away from 
the water, wooded, open and park-like with the invariable 
Thorn and Mimosa trees, and everywhere the long grass, in 
man}' places up to one’s middle, which made walking very 
difficult ; this is the home of the Rhino, here he lives, feeding 
on grass and the tender shoots of a small species of Euphorbia 
tree, lying down in the shade of a bush during the heat of the 
day, and wandering about in the cool of the evening, feeding 
and, in my experience, charging the unwary sportsman. 
My first encounter with Rhino was anything but pleasant : 
I was some twelve miles from camp, and had given my rifle 
to one of my gun-bearers to carry for a moment, while I was 
collecting some small larvae off a bush, my mule was grazing 
near and my other ‘ boys ’ were lying down under a tree a few 
yards away ; suddenly I heard an extraordinary noise between 
a grunt and a roar, and looking up, I saw a huge black mass rise 
up behind a bush not twenty feet in front of me, and two 
enormous Rhinoceroses came straight for me, at a sort of 
gallop, with their heads down and looking as though they 
meant business, my man with my rifle and my other ‘ boys ’ 
with one yell, bolted, leaving me perfectly helpless, without 
a gun of any description in my hands ; I stood perfectly still, 
frightened out of my life, and as the brutes came straight for 
me I thought my last moment had come. But when they 
were within ten yards of me, my mule suddenly brayed and 
they heard it and turned away from me in the direction of the 
noise and disappeared into the bush ; never have I felt so 
relieved in all my life ! I think they must have been a cow and 
a calf, which are always worse when enraged, and no doubt 
they were enjoying their midday siesta when they got our 
wind and promptly came to investigate the cause ; after this 
excitement we rode on and I shot a Hartebeeste which I left 
