«77?» haviqg with great difficulty made his efcape, ftruck into a v^vsjr by-path, in order, after palling through a little dale, to get into the ftrait and plain road. In this road he overtook me, on a fpot whither I had retired to fcreen myfelf and my horfe from the burning rays of the fun, and was overlooking my drawings and memorandums. He was ftill fomewhat out of breath in confequence of his adventure, at the time he gave me an account of i t ; and I, for my part, could not help in fome meafure envying his good fortune, in having at fo cheap a rate feen this huge unwieldy animal alive, together with the motions it made in the cumberfome hide in which it was incaied : but, indeed, he himfelf had feen fo little of it, that we foon came to an agreement to ride up together on the other fide o f the very hill, in which he had juft been put to flight by the rhinoceros. From hence we thought we ihould be able to defcry this creature on the plain; but that we might not be betrayed by the effluvia of our bodies, in cafe he ihould return again to the thicket, we threw fome duft into the air, in order to determine more accurately which way the wind was, and thus be able to direCt our courfe precifely in oppofition to it. And indeed, we had not been long arrived at the fpot before my horfe began to be a little fhy, and at length was quite reftive, behaving juft as he had done before when I firft rode him up to the carcafes o f the two rhinocerofes. This circumftance I took notice o f to my companion, coniidering it as a fign that, in all probability, there was a rhinoceros near the fpot ; but he went on, faying, it was impoffible, as it did not ftrike him juft then, that there might be more than one one in that vicinity. We therefore advanced ftill nearer, till being but fifteen paces off, I heard a ruffling noife -*J like that o f an animal raifing itfelf up leifurely on its legs. Immediately upon this appeared a rhinoceros, with its horn projecting over one of the buihes. I now thought it high time for us to turn back immediately, and made figns to my companion, that it might be done as filently as poffible. He too had perceived the fnout of this animal, and we rode away as foftly as poffible; our horfes’ feet, neverthelefs, made a crackling noife among the dry branches which had fallen from the trees, and with wliich the narrow paths between the buihes were every where covered. On this account, we did not negleCt during our retreat to look behind us, in order that we might make off as faft as poffible, in cafe the rhinoceros ihould have been alarmed by the noife, and have been induced to purfue us. What I call paths were merely tracks made by the buffaloes and rhinocerofes forcing their way through the thickets ; but among' thefe likewife we found many blind paths, h e. fuch as terminated on a fudden in fome high and impenetrable buih. Into a place o f this fort we might in our flight eafily have ftrayed, and there have been caught by-the rhinoceros, as it were, in a trap. This adventure made us afterwards fufpeCt, that every buih harboured a rhinoceros-; and induced us for fome time io give up all thoughts o f reconnoitring among' the buihes with fo much affuranc.e, an animal that did not appear as if it was to be trifled: with. I think we may infer from the preceding relation, that this rhinoceros was different from that which put Mr. Immel- Q 2 MAN,
27f 72-2
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