African Game Trails 
273 
and other aquatic plants which they had 
carried inland with them; I suppose acci¬ 
dentally on their backs. On several occa¬ 
sions where we could only make out scrapes 
on the ground the hippo trails puzzled us, 
being so far inland that we thought they 
might be those of rhinos, until we would 
come on some patch of ashes or of soft soil 
where we could trace the four toe marks. 
The rhino has but three toes, the one in the 
middle being very big; it belongs, with the 
tapir and horse, to the group of ungulates 
which tends to develop one digit of each 
foot at the expense of all the others; a 
group which in a long-past geological age 
was the predominant ungulate group of 
the world. The hippo, on the contrary, be¬ 
longs with such cloven-hoofed creatures as 
the cow and pig, in the group of ungulates 
which has developed equally two main 
digits in each foot; a group much more nu¬ 
merously represented than the other in the 
world of to-day. 
As the hippos grew familiar with the 
camp they became bolder and more vent¬ 
uresome after nightfall. They grunted 
and brayed to one another throughout the 
night, splashed and wallowed among the 
reeds, and came close to the tents during 
their dry-land rambles in the darkness. 
One night, in addition to the hippo chorus, 
we heard the roaring of lions and the trum¬ 
peting of elephants. We were indeed in 
the heart of the African wilderness. 
Early in the morning after this concert 
we started for a day’s rhino hunt, Heller and 
Cuninghame having just finished the prep¬ 
aration, and transport to camp, of the skin 
of Kermit’s bull. Loring, who had not 
hitherto seen either elephant or rhino alive, 
went with us; and by good luck he saw both. 
A couple of miles from camp we were 
crossing a wide, flat, swampy valley in 
which the coarse grass grew as tall as our 
heads. Here and there were kob, which 
leaped up on the ant-hills to get a clear view 
Of us. Suddenly our attention was attracted 
by the movements of a big flock of cow 
herons in front of us, and then watching 
sharply we caught a glimpse of some ele¬ 
phants, about four hundred yards off. We 
now climbed an ant-hill ourselves, and in¬ 
spected the elephants, to see if among them 
were any big-tusked bulls. There were no 
bulls, however; the little herd consisted of 
five cows and four calves, which were 
Vol. XLVIII.—26 
marching across a patch of burnt ground 
ahead of us, accompanied by about fifty 
white cow herons. We stood where we 
were until they had passed; we did not 
wish to get too close, lest they might charge 
us and force us to shoot in self-defence. 
They walked in unhurried confidence, and 
yet were watchful, continually cocking 
their ears and raising and curling their 
trunks. One dropped behind and looked 
fixedly in our direction, probably having 
heard us talking; then with head aloft and 
tail stiffly erect it hastened after the others, 
presenting an absurd likeness to a baboon. 
The four calves played friskily about, es¬ 
pecially a very comical little pink fellow 
which accompanied the leading cow. 
Meanwhile a few of the white herons rode 
on their backs, but most of the flock stalked 
sedately alongside through the burnt grass, 
catching the grasshoppers which were dis¬ 
turbed by the great feet. When, however, 
the herd reached the tall grass all the herons 
flew up and perched on the backs and heads 
of their friends; even the pink calf carried 
one. Half a mile inside the edge of the tall 
grass the elephants stopped for the day be¬ 
side a clump of bushes; and there they 
stood, the white birds clustered on their 
dark bodies. At the time we could dis¬ 
tinctly hear the Doctor’s shot-gun, as he 
collected birds near camp; the reports did 
not disturb the elephants, and when we 
walked on we left them standing uncon¬ 
cernedly in the grass. 
A couple of hours later, as we followed 
an elephant path, we came to where it was 
crossed by the spoor of two rhino. Our 
gunbearers took up the trail, over the 
burnt ground, while Kermit and I followed 
immediately behind them. The trail 
wound about, and was not always easy to 
disentangle, but after a mile or two we saw 
the beasts. They were standing among 
bushes and patches of rank, unburned 
grass; it was just ten o’clock, and they were 
evidently preparing to lie down for the day. 
As they stood they kept twitching their big 
ears; both rhino and elephant are perpet¬ 
ually annoyed, as are most game, by biting 
flies, large and small. We got up very close, 
Kermit with his camera and I with the 
heavy rifle. Too little is known of these 
northern square-mouthed rhino for us to be 
sure that they were not lingering slowly 
toward extinction; and, lest this should be 
