422 
RHINOCEROS, 
cordingly .we all, at the same time, presented our 
pieces, and, discharging our three shots, he instantly 
fell, and was never after able to rise. 
I beheld his fall with the utmost satisfaction : as 
a hunter, and a naturalist, it afforded me a double 
triumph. 
Though mortally wounded, the animal still con- 
tinued to defend himself when lying on the ground, 
as he had done when on his legs. With his feet he 
threw around him heaps of stones ; and neither we 
nor our dogs durst venture to approach him. I wished 
to put an end to his torments, by firing one more ball, 
and was making preparations for the purpose, when 
my people entreated me to desist. As I could not 
ascribe their request to sentiments of pity, I was at 
a loss to conceive what could be their motive. 
I have already said, that all the savage tribes, and 
even the people at the Cape, and in the colonies, 
set a high value on the dried blood of the rhinoce- 
ros, to which they ascribe great virtues in the cure 
of certain disorders, and which they consider in par- 
ticular as a sovereign remedy for obstructions. The 
reader will recollect, that when Swanepoel, intox- 
icated by Pinar, fell under the wheels of my carriage, 
and had one of his ribs broken, he asked me for the 
blood of the rhinoceros ; but as none of it could be 
had, he drank some brandy in its stead. Nature 
alone effected a cure ; but he ascribed it to the 
liquor, and acknowledged that this remedy, equally 
proper, he said, for the sick and the sound, was 
preferable to the other. His companions, however, 
had retained their prepossession ; and they were de- 
termined to have a* store of rhinoceros’ blood. The 
animal had lost a great deal by his wounds. It was 
with much regret that they saw the earth moistened 
with it around him, and they were apprehensive 
that a new wound would increase that loss. 
Scarcely had the animal breathed his last, when. 
