THE RHINOCEROS OF THE LADO 423 
because of the foolish obsession for ^'recordheads which 
seems to completely absorb so many hunters who write. 
What we need at the moment is more information about 
the average South African heads. There are to be found 
among most kinds of horn-bearing animals individuals with 
horns of wholly exceptional size, just as among all nations 
there are individuals of wholly exceptional height. But a 
comparison of these wholly exceptional horns, although it 
has a certain value, is, scientifically, much like a comparison 
of the giants of different nations. A good head is of course 
better than a poor one; and a special effort to secure an 
exceptional head is sportsmanlike and proper. But to let 
the desire for ‘‘record’’ heads, to the exclusion of all else, 
become a craze, is absurd. The making of such a collec¬ 
tion is in itself not only proper but meritorious; all I object 
to is the loss of all sense of proportion in connection there¬ 
with. It is just as with philately, or heraldry, or collecting 
the signatures of famous men. The study of stamps, or of 
coats of arms, or the collecting of autographs, is an entirely 
legitimate amusement, and may be more than a mere 
amusement; it is only when the student or collector allows 
himself utterly to misestimate the importance of his pur¬ 
suit that it becomes ridiculous. 
Cuninghame, Grogan, Heller, Kermit, and I now 
went off on a week’s safari inland, travelling as light as 
possible. The first day’s march brought us to the kraal of 
a local chief named Sururu. There were a few banana 
trees, and patches of scrawny cultivation, round the little 
cluster of huts, ringed with a thorn fence, through which 
led a low door; and the natives owned goats and chickens. 
Sururu himself wore a white sheet of cotton as a toga, and 
