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Show 330 MR. R. T. CORYNDON ON THE [A pr. 3, of the Rhinoceros, the black and the white ; the old Dutch elephant-hunters always believed in several, and advanced as their reasons the different lengths of the anterior horn, and made their decisions by this standard alone. Both Rhinoceroses are easy to shoot, and it is small wonder that when a long train of carriers has to be fed, or when natives are hunting for a supply of meat to carry back to their kraals, rhinoceroses were shot in preference to buck, wary and difficult to stalk as they are and as a rule more tenacious of life. Furthermore, it is natural that a White Rhinoceros should be shot in preference to a Black, for they generally carry a good deal more fat, are very much larger, and as a rule have larger and more valuable horns. As time went on both white and native hunters carried on their work until, a few years ago, naturalists and sportsmen woke up to the fact that there were very few of the White Rhinoceros left in the country. This happened at an unfortunate time, for just then Mr. F. C. Selous, w h o m I consider the only scientific hunter between the Crocodile and the Zambesi Rivers, was engaged by the Chartered Company to guide the Pioneer Expedition up to Mashonaland, and was in consequence unable to afford the time necessary for a trip to the country where they were supposed still to exist. Needless to say, all this time the natives were shooting in the ordinary course and naturally did not understand the view taken in England ; had they fully appreciated it, however, I do not suppose it would have made any material difference to them. Thus it was that, thanks to their greater size and to the fact that they carried more fat and finer horns than the Black, the Square-mouthed Rhinoceros has gradually disappeared, and was, until w e shot those obtained in 1892, considered by zoologists to be very nearly, if not quite, extinct. H o w these names-the Black and White-originated, I do not know, and I have heard of no satisfactory theory. N o serious assertion has, I believe, ever been put forward that the Square-mouthed Rhinoceros occurs north of the Zambesi; certainly no horns in any way resembling the massive growths of R. simus have been brought from there. Count Teleki claims to have shot a White Rhinoceros in N.E. Africa, not far, I think, from Kenia. It is interesting to see that he bases his claim upon the fact that this rhinoceros was of a distinctly lighter colour than the ordinary varieties ; but, as a matter of fact, there is no difference between the colours of the two African species. If anything, I fancy the so-called White Rhinoceros is the darker-coloured animal of the two. I have lately heard of two events which are certainly interesting, but which, I think, bear no real significance. About 12 years ago Colonel Coke made a short shooting-expedition into Somaliland; he started, I believe, from Witu, and while hunting some distance inland he purchased from a caravan several rhinoceros horns. One of these horns, Dr. Giinther tells me, it is more than probable is a White Rhinoceros horn. Should this surmise prove to be correct, |
