COLONEL ROOSEVELT A REMARKABLE HUNTER. 
163 
under a fit of rage, as might be supposed, but is merely exulting in 
his strength, and giving vent to the exuberence of health and violent 
physical exertion. 
The rhinoceros is a good aquatic, and will voluntarily swim for 
considerable distances. It is very fond of haunting the river-banks 
and wallowing in the mud, so as to case itself with a thick coat of 
that substance, in order to shield itself from the mosquitoes and 
other mordant insects which cluster about the tender places, and 
drive the animal, thick-skinned though it may be, half-mad with 
their constant and painful bites. 
The skin of the rhinoceros is of very great thickness and 
strength, bidding defiance to ordinary bullets, and forcing the hunter 
to provide himself with balls which have been hardened with tin 
or solder. The extreme strength of the skin is well known to the 
African natives, who manufacture it into shields and set a high 
value on these weapons of defense. 
A REMARKABLE SHOT. 
That Col. Roosevelt has a keen eye and is a remarkable shot 
will be shown b}^ the fact that he shot a giraffe dead, with a bullet 
through the neck, at a distance of 400 yards. This feat he per¬ 
formed, incidental to bagging another giraffe. 
Wherefore the former President was proclaimed the most 
famous shot who ever hunted in East Africa, his feat being the 
more remarkable because the giraffe he shot at 400 yards was in 
full gallop when he pulled the trigger. ''Bwana Tumbo” made this 
record while hunting with his son and five porters a few miles south 
of Machakos. 
The buffalo shot by former President Roosevelt was one of the 
typical and common South African species, which was equal in size 
to the Indian or Water Buffalo, the largest of which stand six feet 
high at the withers and has a spread of horns sometimes exc( eding 
six feet. The South African type has a bluish-black hide, in old age 
almost completely hairless. Like the buffalo of the American plains 
the African species has upward-curving horns, but with a greater 
