402 AFRICAN RESEARCHES. 



pate, in this quarter, a rich fund of scientific information ; 

 and our expectations were in no small degree heightened when 

 we saw it stated in the last number of the Quarterly, that the 

 work in question would be read with great pleasure by the 

 zoologist, from the valuable accounts there given of the habits 

 of animals of the greatest rarity. It is, however, with a con- 

 siderable feeling of disappointment that we have risen from 

 a perusal of Capt. Harris's production. The narration he has 

 given us, it is true, teems with observations upon the four- 

 footed denizens of the African wilds, but the points upon 

 which he most frequently and fully enlarges, are, with few 

 exceptions, restricted to such as bear upon his own shooting 

 exploits, and generally of but minor import to the naturalist. 

 If a place is given to a fact of real scientific interest, it is ra- 

 ther because it has been forced on the writer's attention, than 

 that he has troubled his brains about anything else than the 

 number of shots required to kill a giraffe, or the precise spot 

 in which a ball should be planted to drop a rhinoceros. 



Captain Harris commenced his projectile career at the early 

 age of six, by shooting at sparrows with a blunderbuss ; and 

 when but sixteen he found himself in Western India, the pos- 

 sessor of a rifle, before the deadly grooves of which a kite had 

 but little chance at the distance of one hundred and fifty yards; 

 whether Jlying or sitting he has left his readers to conjecture. 

 With so precocious a development of the bump of propulsion, 

 it may readily be conceived that the rhinoceroses and giraffes 

 of the wilds of Africa presented targets of no ordinary attrac- 

 tion to the vivid imagination of the youthful officer. "Often" 

 he remarks, "did I see at the extremity of a long vista of years 

 that intervened betwixt me and my furlough, the slender and 

 swan-like neck of the stately giraffe, bowing distantly to our 

 better acquaintance ; Behemoth, with his square and mirth- 

 exciting snout protruded from the yellow waters of a vast ri- 

 ver, acting the part of master of the ceremonies ; whilst a host 

 of rhinoceroses, supported by gigantic elephants, eccentrical- 

 ly horned antelopes, and other fascinating strangers, awaited 

 their turn of presentation with evident impatience." 



The dreams so fondly indulged in by our author were des- 

 tined to be realized. The Bombay Medical Board ordered 

 him to the Cape, with a warm recommendation that he should 

 penetrate into the interior of Africa. And here he begs it may 

 not be supposed that "sport" was his only object, having, 

 both from education and taste, an ardent desire to contribute 

 to the Natural History and Geography of the countries he was 

 about to explore. The vast preponderance, however, of our 

 author's "shooting mania" as he terms it, over all other con- 



