Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1910-03-04
TWO UGLY ANIMALS,
Those Big Pigs, the Rhinoceros
! and the Hippopotamus.
THEY ARE HARD TO CAPTURE.

Getting Away With One Of the Colossal
Brutes Makes the Work Of Trapping
the Bio FeIines Seem Like Child's
Piay-Methods of tho Hunters.
Ira piping the big felines is child's
play compared with the work of cap
turing those numbering. colossal anil
mails of the big pig" family. the rhi.
noceros and the hippopotamus.
Too stupid to tame or to break to
halter and too heavy to transport
through hundreds Of miles of wilder.
ness, it would tnke man half u life
time 10 bring one OF these five to six
thousand pound creatures out of jun
Gle into civilization. Therefore the
experts only chance Is to find n cow
with a calf and to capture the young
one.
Compared with the alert. grim ex-
terror OF the feines. there Is little In
the appearance Of phlegmatic, pom
derous pig like a rhinoceros to Indicate
its real foreclosures. There Ia hard
ly a wild animal In existence which Is
more dangerous than this rarcst OF all
our meuagerie captives. Awkward as
the great creature appears when at
rest. once aroused it dashes through
the densest thicket with the irrrsistl-
bic speed of an express train.
10 catch a rhinNerOs the trapper
proceeds with preparations much as
would an explorer bound for TWO Or
three year expedition In the Interior
of an unexplored continent. for the
difficulty confronting him Is the three
fold one Of first penetrating thou
sund or more miles into the Interior;
second. Of finding not only rhinoce-
ros. but a rhinoceros COW with calf
old enough to capture. and, lastly. OF
transporting his prize across hills and
mountains and plains, over rivers ana
ravines. across swamps and through
forests to civilization.
Skirting swamps and rivers. the men
are ever Oh the lookout for the deep.
round spoons. like Il pie plate driven
into the mud for in this wet ground
the rhnOcpros loves to wallow. Ere.
unently 6ve or sic months elapse be-
fore the tracks Of Il COW and calf are
picked ny.
Noispless and from well to lpewnrd.
nd
steal nearer until the COW aud the
calf are inclUsed in Il circle. from
ahead, out Of the maze OF cane ana
creeper. sounds the uneasy stamping
of the COW. With half snort, half
grunt. in an instant the rhinoceros Is
nil attention. Head raised and nostrils
shifting, she searches the air steadily.
At sight Of one of the savages the COW
dashes with the speed OF race horse
at the man. charging the human decoy.
aud at thni instant the trappers rine
Is heard. and her furious charge IL
over. provided the bullet reaches the
heart by striking just behind the LETT
fOreleg- the only vulnerable point IN
the Inch thick nrmor with which the
beast is clad.
Now and then ii happens that inc
trappcr fails TO Hlll In time-lliS gun
may miss lire. intervening trees may
interfere ur the niarksman lnay MISS
his aim. Then the life uf the drcoy
depends upon his own agility. 10 run
TO one side before The rhinucProS Is al
most on top OF him would be fatal, t"f
the swift brute would ovprlake him
with a few bounds. Ills only hope IL
to wait until the deadly huru II almost
at his feet and then. with the swift
ness of a molgOose dodging the aim "f
q cobra. TO leap 10 one side while me
ponderous creature. unable To tnrh
short Id time. dashps onward under its
;own impetus. Twice, three times. Il
clever native hunter will dodge in this
way. giving the traplrr ample 'i'''e !"
bring down The rllinOcPrOS.
Then comes the tracking or III"
frightened calf. which has fed at the
first sign Of trouble. and soon II II
pushed. prodded aud showed up IL
bridge OF log skids into cage OF the
bullock cart.
But even laore dangerous Is the trap
ming of the hippopotnmus, TOT. al
Though In itself the "rhiDo' is II more
savage antagonist than the river
horse" the trapper hunts the former
ION land and brings down at safe dls'
,tunce. whereas in the case Of the MP
popotamus he must fight in the same
primitive fashion that savages nave
used for ages Hand to nav. rs IL
we're. he must engage this two ton
monster while standing in the bow OF
IA frail canoe, for the hippopotamus'
as its name. the river horse. means
liz land and water animal and must
be harpoonpd and brought ashore De-
fore II expires. otherwise it would SINK
at once TO the bottom Of the river. the
coveted calf escaping among the otDef
hippopotamuses Instead OF following
the stricken cow to shore. so thai tue
youngster may be canght.-A. W.
a.. stet al.