We Found That Many Elephants Had Been Feeding On The Fruit Called Mokoronga.
This Is A Black-Colored Plum, Having Purple Juice.
We all ate it
in large quantities, as we found it delicious.
The only defect it has
is the great size of the seed in comparison with the pulp.
This is the chief fault of all uncultivated wild fruits.
The Mokoronga exists throughout this part of the country most abundantly,
and the natives eagerly devour it, as it is said to be perfectly wholesome,
or, as they express it, "It is pure fat," and fat is by them considered
the best of food. Though only a little larger than a cherry, we found that
the elephants had stood picking them off patiently by the hour. We observed
the footprints of a black rhinoceros (`Rhinoceros bicornis', Linn.)
and her calf. We saw other footprints among the hills of Semalembue,
but the black rhinoceros is remarkably scarce in all the country
north of the Zambesi. The white rhinoceros (`Rhinoceros simus' of Burchell),
or Mohohu of the Bechuanas, is quite extinct here, and will soon become
unknown in the country to the south. It feeds almost entirely on grasses,
and is of a timid, unsuspecting disposition: this renders it an easy prey,
and they are slaughtered without mercy on the introduction of fire-arms.
The black possesses a more savage nature, and, like the ill-natured
in general, is never found with an ounce of fat in its body.
From its greater fierceness and wariness, it holds its place in a district
much longer than its more timid and better-conditioned neighbor.
Mr. Oswell was once stalking two of these beasts, and, as they came
slowly to him, he, knowing that there is but little chance of hitting
the small brain of this animal by a shot in the head, lay expecting
one of them to give his shoulder till he was within a few yards.
The hunter then thought that by making a rush to his side he might succeed
in escaping, but the rhinoceros, too quick for that, turned upon him,
and, though he discharged his gun close to the animal's head,
he was tossed in the air.
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