ONE OF THE SAME RHINOCEROSES DEAD.
This picture gives some idea of the size of the commonest surviving species.
In the early years of the nineteenth century the square-mouthed or white rhinoceros was found in large numbers over the whole of South Africa from the Orange River to the Zambesi, except in the waterless portions of the Kalahari Desert, or those parts of the country which are covered with rugged stony hills or dense jungle.
Speaking of his journey in 1837 through the western part of what is now the Transvaal Colony, Captain (afterwards Sir) Cornwallis Harris wrote: "On our way from the waggons to a hill not half a mile distant, we counted no less than twenty-two of the white species of rhinoceros, and were compelled in self-defence to slaughter four. On one occasion I was besieged in a bush by three at once, and had no little difficulty in beating off the assailants." Even so lately as thirty years ago the white rhinoceros was still to be met with in fair numbers in Ovampoland and other districts of Western South Africa, whilst it was quite plentiful in all the uninhabited parts of Eastern South Africa from Zululand to the Zambesi. In 1872 and 1873, whilst elephant-hunting in the uninhabited parts of Matabililand, I encountered white rhinoceroses almost daily, and often saw several in one day. At the present time, however, unless it should prove to be numerous in some as yet unexplored districts of North Central Africa, this strange and interesting animal must be counted one of the rarest of existing mammals, and in Southern Africa I fear it must soon become extinct. A few still exist amongst the wild loquat groves of Northern Mashonaland, and there are also a few surviving in Zululand; but I fear that even with the most rigid protection they are too few in number to restock the country. They have a better chance, I think, of increasing in numbers in Zululand than in Mashonaland, in which latter country it is at present impossible to afford them any protection either from natives or Europeans.
Photo by J. W. McLellan] [Highbury.
RHINOCEROS BATHING.
All the Asiatic species of rhinoceros are fond of bathing and wallowing in mud.
A full-grown bull white rhinoceros stands from 6 feet 6 inches to 6 feet 9 inches at the shoulder, and is very massively built, with short, stout legs. The head is very much elongated, and the mouth square, like that of an ox. When white rhinoceroses were still plentiful, very considerable differences were observable in the length and shape of their horns. The anterior horns of full-grown bulls might measure from 18 inches to 40 inches in length; those of cows from 24 inches to 60 inches. The longest horn known—that of a cow—which was brought from South Africa by the well-known hunter the late Roualeyn Gordon Cumming, measures 62½ inches over the curve. As a rule, the front horn of the white rhinoceros curved slightly backwards, but was often straight or bent slightly forwards, and sometimes curved strongly backwards. The posterior horn varied from a few inches to 2 feet in length.
The white rhinoceros lived in families, usually a bull, cow, and calf being found together; but there might be two or even three calves of different ages, and of which the youngest alone would be suckling, living with the father and mother. In the early South African spring (September and October), when the young green herbage was just sprouting after the first rains, two or three families of white rhinoceroses might be seen feeding in close proximity, presenting the appearance of a herd; but I fancy the several families of these animals had only been brought together for the sake of the young green grass. In Southern Africa the white rhinoceros lived entirely on grass, and I have never seen any evidence of their having eaten anything else. When either walking, trotting, or galloping, the white rhinoceros always carried its nose close to the ground. A calf always preceded its mother, and she appeared to guide it by holding the point of her horn on the little creature's rump; and in all changes of pace, no matter how sudden, this position was always maintained. The white rhinoceros was easily killed by a shot through the heart or through both lungs, but would travel very long distances, and probably, as a rule, ultimately recover from wounds in other parts of the body. They could travel at a great rate and for a considerable distance with a broken fore leg or shoulder, but if a hind leg were broken they were rendered almost immediately helpless. In disposition they were sluggish and inoffensive animals, lying asleep in the shade of trees or bushes during the heat of the day, and coming to the water to drink at night or often before sundown in parts of the country where they had not been much molested. When disturbed, white rhinoceroses would go off at a swift trot, but if chased on horseback would break into a gallop, which they were capable of maintaining for a considerable distance, and at a wonderful pace for so large and heavy an animal. The meat of the white rhinoceros was most excellent, the part in greatest favour amongst hunters being the hump on the back of the neck in front of the shoulder, which was cut off whole and roasted in the skin in a hole dug in the ground.