Evening star., 1899-09-30
A Rhinoceros the Most Difficult of
All Animals to Capture.
TAKING ELM Is 4 DANGEROUS TASK
He Fears Nothing and is Always
Ready for a Fight
STRENGTH AND FEROCITY

circuSes and ZOOS. l have seen herd Of
twenty wild elephants driven into an in
closure and made captive almost without
trouble. I have trapped four and five lions
and tigers in week. with never a man
even scratched. AS for wolves and hyenas,
they can be caught as readily as fish. It's
when you tackle rhnoceros that you
tackle business. It's worry and work and
danger from the moment you set about it.
l am talking about the one-horned, black
rhinoceros Of Africa. When nature Gre
ated him she gave him more strength ac-
cording to bulk than any other animal on
earth She gave him an abundance of
muscle and but few nerves. He has a hide
almost bulltt-proof, vision like a hawk,
a sense of hearing as keen a fox and
his courage is really sublime. You may
add to all this that the rhinoceros is al
ways mad. The fiercest of other beasts
have their good-natured hours. but this
fellow always has chip on his shoulder.
Nothing Is too big or too small for him to
charge. He'll turn on steam and go crash
Ing through the bushes after a jackal at
time, and an hour later will charge
into a herd of elephants or scatter fam
lily of lions. 1t Is agreed by all men who
have studied him that he is totally with
out fear. If he ever runs away from any
thing it is through mistake But for two
defects in his physical makeup he'd soon
exterminate all other animals in Africa.
His range of vision Is like that of whale
dead ahead-and he is so bulky for his size
that he can't turn except in a considerable
circle.
Costly Capture.
I captured Barnum's first rhinoceros,
and that animal cost him more than any
four lions or tigers he ever owned. 1 was
the first animal hunter sent over to Africa
by an American, and l had 1t all to learn.
l sent home lions, giraffes, elephants. buff
faloes and hyenas without any great
trouble. but it was whole year before
got my first rhinoceros. I had to make
study of the animal and take advantage
of his characteristics. The natives had
killed one occasionally. but such thing
as capturing one alive had never been
heard of. 1t seemed to me that the easiest
way was to moose him. There are well de-
fined paths all through the forests of Af-
rica, and these are used more less by
all animals. especially where they lead to
water l made a \ lose In a new two-inch
rope big enough to take in a rhnoceros.
and then climbed into tree above to man.
age it. l spent the best part of three days
up there before victim came along. He
scented me and was suspicious. but never
theleSs came on and was neatly noosed. 1
believe that rope would have held a
schooner at anchor off Montauk Point, but
that rhinoceros made one plunge and broke
1t like thread. I hadn't realized his
strength up to that time. My next move
was to seek a point on path several miles
from camp and erect a barricade. This
harricade ran to V-shaped point and was
made strong enough to hold an elephant
If rhinoceros took that path he would
follow it to the last inch, and when he
in close quarters We would be on hand to
tangle him up. We had a visitor almost
before We were ready. When the rhnoce-
ros got along to the barricade he halted for
a minute to sniff the air. Then he lowered
his head and went charging down the path.
I believe We had him for sure. but he
struck the logs and rocks at the point of
the V with the power of a wild locomotive
and battered his way through. I now
turned to a pit. At soft spot on a path
leading to a water-hole we dug pit twenty
feet long, ten feet wide and seven feet
deep This We covered with poles, branches
and dirt. until no one could detect the
danger lurking beneath. but we had our
trouble for our reward. The rhnocerOs
does most of his roaming by day. and Is
careless whether he follows a path or
crashes through the bushes. The night
after the pit was ready we caught two
hyenas in it. The next day we caught a
deer, the next night another hyena. The
one animal we wanted did not appear. We
tried again at another point, and this time
1t was success, because had the details
more in hand When the pit had been pre-
pared went up the path about half a mile
to an opening and hung red shirt on a
bush l knew that if a rhinoceros sighted
that shirt he would charge the bush. /
climbed a tree and waited and In less than
an hour / heard old fellow coming full
tilt. He went through the bush like an av-
handkerchief. He picked 1t up on his horn
and charged down the path. On the far
side of the pit was another red shirt and
in his anger the beast didn't look for a
trap. He was busting along at twenty
miles an hour when the earth gave way
and he landed on his head at the bottom
Of the pit We had time getting him out
and into a cage, and l don't believe he
ever got over being mad.
Real boss of the Forest
hSa
exception. were made in the same way,
but we dug ten different pits for every cap
ture, and it was weeks between them The
exception was curious case. With seven
or eight natives following me in Indian
file L was walking in path through the
woods OF a sudden there was a cry of
alarm from the rearmost native. A rbiuoc-
eros had entered the path, caught sight of
us and was charging. We sprang into the
bushes right and left, and he wasn't ten
feet away when l left the path. Being
under full headway he kept on for a hum
dred feet, and then left the path himself
AS he did so he ran between two trees
growing close together. His weight and
impetus bent them aside for the moment
but as they came back they caught him
Just forward of the hips and he was held
last. There was fun around there for a
time. The old fellow dug up the earth in
great shape as he snOrted and beloved
and If his hindquarters hadn't been held
up In the air the trees could not have held
him. Half his power was gone, and when
we realized the fix he was in we roped his
legs and had him secure before we cut one
Of the trees down.
Until I knew the rhinoceros 1 supposed
the elephant to be the boss of the forest
and plain. l hadn't been in Africa yery
long when l found out that the elephant
played second fiddle We were hiding at. a
water-hole one day to watch the direction
taken by troop of nine elephants who
were loafing about. They were not vet
ready to go when a bull rhinoceros appear
ed on a path about twenty rods away He
stood in the open and took a long survey
OF the elephants. AS they caught sight of
him they crowded together as if alarmed.
but 1t never occurred to me that they would
shirk fight. The rhinoceros got ready
after bit. and with loud snort he came
charging down. Among the nine was an
elephant almost as big as Jumbo-a phe-
nomenon among African elephants The
rhinoceros made directly for the big fellow
and he struck him on the left shoulder and
knocked him into the pool and then fell
over him. The sight of those two big
beasts wallowing about in the water was
the funniest thing 1 ever Witnessed. All
the other elephants ran away at once, and
though the big fellow ought to have been
able to do up pair of rhinoceroses, he
ran away from this one. He got several
bad digs from the horn before he could es-
ncar, sv,1 l. L.