The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1908-01-01
THE STUPID RHINocERos.
Relies Principally on His Wonderful
Sense of Smell.

He is Il stupid beast-this rhino-ap-
parently not using his sight to any
great extent, but relying ON n wonder
full sense of smell and a very disturb.
ing ability to hear. Once he strikes q
scent that is irritating to his temper or
hears n sound that dIssatisfies him he
takes an instant to decide the direc-
ton, and then putting down his huge
ugly head so that his big horn is ready
for business he charges at the top of
his speed in n perfectly straight line,
making q terrible rumpus over 1t. You
only have to jump a few feet to one
side or the other, and he will go tear.
ing by and keep on going until he Is
tired. 1 let one go by because condi-
lions did not admit of my stopping him
and then climbed q little tree and fol-
lowed him with a field glass as he tore
along in q cloud Of lust for over two
miles.
Another time one Of the men gave q
grunt, spoke the one word "kifaru''
and pointed to a black spot half a mile
away which under the glass turned
out to be one Of the strange, cumber-
some beasts we were looking for. He
showed a very good front horn, and
the boys both agreed that he was a
reasonably good man"
1t was only n few moments when we
could hear the rhino moving toward us
dead to windward and shifting about
in his WI peculiar and rather appall-
ing fashion. Suddenly he came direct
ly into the burned patch perhaps n
hrnlroJ ,nrJo u-n TI,o Rrek tI,;,-
that l noticed now was there were six
or sever brown birds perched in n row
OF his back. These signal birds-some-
times white, sometimes brown-sit on
their big companions spine and relieve
him of s%uperhuous ticks. SO long as
they sit there he knows hat there Is
10 danger and eats on in peace and
quiet. The instant they fly off, rs they
do on the slightest warning, up comes
his big snout, and he let's out a sue.
cession Of shifts or whistles, caused by
his attempt to scent the direction Of
the danger, for danger there is, he
knows.
On came the beast in a zigzag line
until he was not over fifty yards away.
Then the birds caught sight OF me and
flew off. Up came the big head, and
the fun began. All vas ready except
that he was too directly head on for
me to get in a shot below the ear,
which was what 1 wanted.
Then he turned into the long grass,
and we lost sight OF him. / moved in
to the long grass also, taking care to
keep always to leeward. In q mo-
ment we could see the top Of his back
about twenty yards off, and 1 covered
the place where his head ought to be
with the rife. Then I got what seem
ed to be the best sight I might have,
especially as twenty yards was about
as close as personal comfort and ease
Of mind allowed, and 1 fired.
He was the first very large animal
1 had killed, and my first sensation
was IL OF blank astonishment that
one bullet could put him out Of bust
ness SO suddenly and so completely.
AS a matter Of fact he simply sank
down in the grass and was dead be-
fore he was rairly stretched on the
ground.
The two natives ran at him at once,
being careful to approach him from
behind, and, grabbing his tail, climbed
up or his back, dancing a cancan and
yelling and screaming like madmen,
and then we went back and got ten
portcrs to come and cut him up. The
skull is SO big and heavy that it is
not feasible to carry way the whole
head, and we therefore cut away the
horns, taking care to get the skin in.
tact.-Appleton's.