418 RHINOCEROS OF THE LADO [ch. xiv 
vast level stretches, or up or down inclines so slight as 
hardly to be noticeable. The black dust of the burnt 
soil rose in puffs beneath our feet, and now and then 
we saw dust devils, violent little whirlwinds, which 
darted right and left, raising to a height of many feet 
grey funnels of ashes and withered leaves. In places 
the coarse grass had half resisted the flames, and rose 
above our heads. Here and there bleached skulls of 
elephant and rhino, long dead, showed white against 
the charred surface of the soil. Everywhere, crossing 
and recrossing one another, were game trails, some 
slightly marked, others broad and hard, and beaten 
deep into the soil by the feet of the giant creatures that 
had trodden them for ages. The elephants had been 
the chief road-makers, but the rhinoceros had travelled 
their trails, and also buffalo and buck. 
There were elephant about, but only cows and calves, 
and an occasional bull with very small tusks. Of 
rhinoceros, all square-mouthed, we saw nine, none 
carrying horns which made them worth shooting. The 
first one I saw was in long grass. My attention was 
attracted by a row of white objects moving at some 
speed through the top of the grass. It took a second 
look before I made out that they were cow herons 
perched on the back of a rhino. This proved to be a 
bull, which joined a cow and a calf. None had decent 
horns, and we plodded on. Soon we came to the trail 
of two others, and after a couple of miles’ tracking 
Kongoni pointed to two grey bulks lying down under a 
tree. I walked cautiously to within thirty yards. They 
heard something, and up rose the two pig-like blinking 
creatures, who gradually became aware of my presence, 
and retreated a few steps at a time, dull curiosity con¬ 
tinually overcoming an uneasiness which never grew 
