LARGE ^RHINO’ SHOT 
109 
charge. At last, after what appeared to me to be an age of 
suspense, he lay down. My men began to talk, when he 
stood up again and began snorting loudly. At length he 
lay down again in a kneeling position, when I quickly 
shifted my position and got my Express. I fired one shot 
at him at long range, but as he did not move, I walked up 
to him shouting. As we got up to him, he lifted up his 
huge head twice in the air, and let it down again upon the 
ground with a bump, making us all start back ; but he 
never moved again, and we cut his throat, and left him 
looking most natural and life-like, as he knelt with his chin 
resting upon the ground. Coming back a couple of hours 
afterwards, we found that, owing to the absence of blood 
and his life-like appearance, not a single vulture had as yet 
arrived. He proved to be the finest specimen I had as 
yet shot, measuring 12 feet from tip of nose to tip of tail, 
and 9 feet 10 inches in circumference. His front horn 
measured 16 J inches round the curve, rear horn inches ; 
circumference of front horn 17^ inches, and of rear horn 
15|- inches. It shows that this animal was here very 
numerous, when in one short morning we came casually 
across four without any tracking. 
The guide returned in the afternoon from investigating 
some wells half a day’s march off, and reported further 
elephant and ^rhino’ tracks by the dozen. During the night 
two lions roared round the camp, causing a general stampede 
as usual among the camels, which came crashing into my 
tent and through the thorn zareba. They were with 
difficulty and no little danger found, secured, and brought 
into camp again. 
Next day I took a rest, it being Sunday. I sent out the 
men to look for lion spoor, but it was utterly impossible to 
find it in the rocky ground. At five next morning we 
struck camp and marched to Boholo Deno (the Blocked-up 
Water Hole). On the way we saw some oryx, one of which 
I killed with a good shot through the shoulder at long 
range. We then walked up a small river-bed in which we 
