XVI 
RHINOCEROS 
107 
one occasion a No. 10 bullet struck the head just in 
front of the ear, and failed to penetrate. The animal 
fell to the ground, stunned, but recovered its feet 
and ran half unconsciously past me, giving me the 
opportunity to run alongside and fire the remain¬ 
ing barrel behind the shoulder, which immediately 
finished the encounter. 
I was not aware at the time that the No. 10 
leaden bullet had failed to penetrate; but upon an 
examination of the head, I found the lead wedged 
into the joint of the lower jaw; the skull was 
slightly fractured, but not actually penetrated. 
Upon another occasion I was stalking a bull 
rhinoceros which I had observed from a distance, 
and it had disappeared upon the other side of rising 
ground. Feeling sure that I should reach it by 
running quickly forward, upon my arrival at the 
spot where I had lost sight of my object I detected 
it among a few bushes not 20 yards distant. There 
were a number of brown-coloured rocks scattered 
about the surface, nearly as large as ordinary grind¬ 
stones. Taking advantage of these, I knelt behind 
one and fired at the shoulder. Instead of falling, 
the rhinoceros immediately turned towards the 
smoke, which fortunately was drifting across to my 
right in a strong breeze. With stupid astonishment 
it regarded this unsubstantial cause of disturbance, 
and followed it until I again had a good chance 
within only a few yards. The No. 10 quicksilver 
and lead conical bullet shot completely through the 
body, entering behind the right shoulder, and 
