XXVIII 
THE BLACK LIST 
277 
who showed an apparent wish for my extermination. 
This was in the Southern Game Reserve, and after the 
pair had made three charges at increasing proximity, 
I thought it advisable to conclude my observations 
from the branches of an exceedingly thorny tree. The 
wind at the time was very shifty and my opinion is 
that it was uncertainty as to the safest mode of escape 
that influenced their actions. However, I most 
certainly felt that a tree, even a thorny one, was to be 
preferred to the ground. The conduct of the animal 
when disturbed is one over which every sportsman can 
dogmatise to his heart’s content. As Mr. Dugmore 
in his excellent book points out, one is too much 
inclined to judge by personal experience. One man 
comes out, sees half-a-dozen rhinos, shoots two, and 
says that they are quite tame and easily obtainable. 
H is friend comes next season, sees three or four, of 
which a couple run through his caravan and one puts 
his foot through his camera. He doesn’t shoot a 
specimen. This man reports that they are very vicious, 
and not too easy to obtain. I hold one belief, possibly 
rather far-fetched, that certain sportsmen, greatly 
affected by exertion in the sun, give out a considerably 
more pungent odour than others, and that this odour 
invites a determined charge. In short, that those 
who sweat the most are charged the most. One 
thing is absolutely certain, and that is that the species 
is a nuisance to the sportsman and impossible to the 
farmer. A kudu or buffalo is being pursued through 
thick bush ; suddenly there is a horrid snort, and a 
huge dark body bursts through the trees and dashes 
by in a manner which is ruin to the nerve and to the 
steady hand. This is bad enough, but if the animal’s 
course be directed towards one’s ‘ shamba ’ it is 
