early morning; the sun had just appeared above the
horizon, and our path lay through a small opening
in the bush, perhaps ten acres in extent. We were
in need of meat, and seeing a giraffe in front I fired
a shot at it from my Winchester. The report awoke
two rhinoceroses taking a morning nap, not fifty feet
to the left of the caravan, and in close proximity to
the porters. In a moment loud cries of “ Faro! Faro!”
(Rhinoceros!) were heard; and looking back I saw
my men scattering in all directions, but no rhinoceros.
Soon from among the mass of my men I saw one of
their number shot up into the air to the height of
twenty feet, and presently there emerged from the
crowd a rhinoceros with horn lowered to the earth.
He first viciously charged a large wooden packing-
case, which lay in his path; and having smashed that
he tossed to one side a tusk of ivory weighing eighty-
six pounds. These, however, were but diversions, his
latent intent being to overtake two of my fattest porters,
who were running, yelling, perspiring, and puffing
in front of the infuriated beast. Owing to the massing
of my men I was unable to shoot until these two
fleeing negroes had passed within a few feet of me,
and the rhinoceros was almost upon them. I gave
him a shot from my Winchester; it seemed to have
no effect but to cause him to make a perceptible gain
upon my men. His horn appeared to be within a few
inches of them, when a second and more fortunate
shot from my rifle broke his fore leg, and brought him
to the ground. He fell just three paces from where
I stood. Not knowing where I had struck him, and
seeing him fall, I thought he was dead; but when I
approached him, he rose on his hind legs, and supported
himself with his head, madly snorting all the
while. Seeing he could not move, I left him, and
ran back to see what had happened in the rear of
the caravan. The men in charge of Lieutenant von .
Hohnel’s litter reported that the other rhinoceros
had passed within a few feet of them, being diverted
from them by one of the porters the rhinoceros had
elected to pursue, but luckily did not overtake.
The poor fellow who had been tossed into the air
received a hideous wound in the buttocks, and as he
lit upon his head when he fell to the earth, the hard
soil had broken away his entire scalp. He lived but
twenty-six hours after this mishap.
A propos of this man’s death, I will relate an incident
which shows the weak degree of affection the
Zanzibari exhibit even toward near relatives. The
wounded man, a Manyema (a cannibal tribe on the
Congo), was a slave of Tippoo Tib, and had joined
my force at Zanzibar with two of his brothers, also
slaves. I naturally concluded that his brothers would
take more interest in his welfare than would other
porters; so I instructed them to make a hammock,
and carry him between them, slung from a pole.
After a few hours of this work, they said it was far
better to let their brother die than fatigue them with
carrying him. They added that it was absolutely
God’s order that he should die, and they were greatly
annoyed by the trouble their brother caused them on
the march.
On another occasion, while passing through a very
thick bush, a rhinoceros appeared from behind a