“More than bones,” replied Alexander; “for what can we do with so many carcasses?  There is provision for a month, if it would keep.  What a prodigious variety of animals there appears to be in this country.”

“Yes, they are congregated here, because the country, from want of rain, may be considered as barren.  But within eight or nine degrees of latitude from the Cape, we find the largest and most minute of creation.  We have the ostrich and the little creeper among the birds.  Among the beasts we have the elephant, weighing 4,000 lbs., and the black specked mouse, weighing a quarter of an ounce.  We have the giraffe, seventeen feet high, and the little viverra, a sort of weasel, of three inches.  I believe there are thirty varieties of antelopes known and described; eighteen of them are found in this country, and there are the largest and smallest of the species; for we have the eland, and we have the pigmy antelope, which is not above six inches high.  We see here also the intermediate links of many genera, such as the eland and the gnoo; and as we find the elephant, the rhinoceros, and Wilmot’s friend, the hippopotamus, we certainly have the bulkiest animals in existence.”

Bremen now came up to say that they had discovered a rhinoceros close to the river-side, concealed in the bushes underneath a clump of acacia.  The Major and Alexander having declared their intention of immediately going in pursuit, Swinton advised them to be cautious, as the charge of a rhinoceros was a very awkward affair, if they did not get out of the way.  They rode down to the clump of trees and bushes where the animal was said to be hid, and, by the advice of Bremen, sent for the dogs to worry the animal out.  Bremen, who was on foot, was desired by the Major to take the horse which Omrah rode, that he might be more expeditious, and our travelers remained with a clear space of two hundred yards between them and the bushes where the animal was concealed.  The Hottentots had also followed them, and were ordered on no account to fire till they had taken their positions, and the dogs were sent in to drive the animal out.

When Bremen was but a short distance from them with the dogs, Swinton advised that they should dismount and take possession of a small clump of trees which grew very close together, as they would be concealed from the animal.  They called Omrah to take the horses, but he was not to be seen; so they gave them to one of the Hottentots, to lead them to some distance out of harm’s way.

“The vision of the rhinoceros is so limited,” observed Swinton, “that it is not difficult to get out of his way on his first charge; but at his second he is generally prepared for your maneuver.  A ball in the shoulder is the most fatal.  Look out, Bremen has turned in the dogs.”  The barking of the dogs, which commenced as soon as they entered the bushes, did not continue more than a minute, when a female rhinoceros of the black variety burst