Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1889-03-15
THE BLACK RHINOCEROS


gcrous foe than the lion, tiger or any
of the serpent family, As q shark is nj
ways hungry, so is the black rhinoccros
always mad. lie does not know what
fear is. He would charge INTO an army
as soon rs at n single hunter. He can
be defeated only by being killed.
While agent for the animal house at
Hamburg captured, all told, seven spcci
mems OF The rhinoccros family, of which
five were black, and they were got at
such cost and trouble that the house re-
fused for several years to fill any more
orders for this species. A lion, tiger,
zebra, giraffe or elephant soon gives in
when made captive and secured on ship
board, but the black rh;noccros never
gives up. He simply can't do it, Nature
made hun defiant, and he remains in
that condition every day of his life,
One which | captured for the Paris
gardens in 1857 was placed in nh en-
closure, the Ioof OF which was supported
ut one point by Il heavy stone column.
The beast charged this column rs soon
ms turned into the enclosure, and was
knocked down and considerably hurt
out Tor the next two years he repeated
ms foolishncss at least once a dny.
Knocking of his horns and bruisinn
himself until he was finally sold to some
show for II mere song.
Wherever there is wild rice swamp
IN South Africa there you will find the
black rhlnoceros. They used to he very
plenty along the Orange and I.impopo
Rivers and their tributaries, and there is
no fear that their Numbers have been
greatly thlnncd out by sportsmcn since.
Every hunter wants 10 kill one ms matter
oil course, but he has no desire for n fu.s
with II second
On the occasion of which I write
went up tho Limpopo from hustcnbira,
having party of sixteen men, of whom
three besides myself were white. We
had two haase boats and bnrgc. the
latter lifted up rs prison for the rhi.
noceri we proposed to capture. The three
dutch hunters ! engaged for the cXpedi-
ton claimed TO know all about the game
we were after, and had every appliance
VIC could possibly make use of. had
seen the white rhinoccros run down and
lassocd by horscman, and. although
some very tough stories have been told
oil the black species, did not take much
stock in them.
Three days TO the north of the Dutch
town named we hauled ashore and made
our camp on Il bluff rising twenty feet
above the stream. This bluff was about
forty rods long, and on the land side it
noped oil into a great swamp or rice
held: The rice stood up six or seven
teet high, while the ground was perfectly
dry. 1t was natural feeding ground
Tor the rhino eros, and there were plenty
OF signs that he was at hand We started
TO make one general camp about midway
on the blalf, but one of the rec State
natives i'll my train beckonod me aside
and said:
IF you d, live you lose all. If rhi-
noccros charge into camp he break every
thing here. Make camp all tho way"
1t was good idea, and ordered
three camps instead of one. / took the
centre with the Dutchmen, and the ma -
lives encamped on each side and about
fifteen rods away. AS we intended 10 re-
main for some time things were made
pretty secure. After our camps were
finished, Josh" as Gale the native
who had warned Inc, gathered lot of
stout creepers and vines and made a de-
fence in front OF each camp by attach
ing them to stakes and trees and wcav-
ing an obstruction about three feet high
we laughed at him, but events proved
that his head was level 1t was about =
o'clock when we landed, and Mt A VIC
were comfortably fixed. / was rubbing
down my big bore rifle when two OF
ehree natives came running up with tho
information that n rhinocc: os was in
sight-directly below my camp. a quar-.
ter OF mile away was knoll rising Out
OF the rice swamp. This knoll was bare,
and rs ran cit in response to the alarm
6nrh1n bnrraI ,-lN;
on the knoll with his head toward us
Flc had got our wind, and perhaps he,rf
the cries of the natives. These animal,
are near sighted, and this fellow could
not have told at that distance what was
in front of him. He did not care. how
ever. With a snort and grunt he low
cred his head and charged up the risin.
ground like wild locomotive
Look out, Every body climb n tree? p
shouted "Josh." and in minute W,
were among the limbs.
1t was good move and yet moor one
Had been on my feet at just the RICH
moment, | could have made q va.uabl
capture without danger. The old felo,
held direct for my camp, aud guess h
would have gone through it and into III
river. but for the defence erected b
Josh" He struck the vines with
great crash and was sprung back an
rolled of his feet by the rebound II
lay as if stunned for full minute. an
had been on the ground ] could hay
passed rope around one of his legs an
made him fast to tree. When he %
up his eyes fell upon n hat which one c
the natives had dropped, and he cha,ec
it. The charge took him back toward ii
swamp, and he kept going on till out
orr sight.
We passed the rest of the day in ercc
ing defences about our camps, and nc,
day | was ready with new idea in rh
noceros hunting. Indeed. had two
them. The natives scattered throus
the swamp to investigate and when tn,
returned they reported trails leading
every direction. Three black rhinoce
had been seen but not disturbed, and
was evident that 'old game" would
on hand whenever wanted I return,
to the swamp with them, and selecting
spot where wide, beaten trail ran in
straight line for about fifty rods, VIC d,
o PIT twelve feet long, six feet wide. n,
four feet deep. WeIined the edges wi
N.r. cfnlraa 10 rrovnnt he no.,l, .