AFRICAN RESEARCHES. . 403 



siderations, is but too plainly apparent in the subsequent pa- 

 ges of his work. The learned reviewer in the Quarterly who, 

 if sufficiently at home upon zoological matters to distinguish 

 a sphinx from a griffin, we are sure would feel wofully com- 

 flustercated * if called upon to define the difference between 

 a rifle and a marling-spike, is in ecstacies with the exploits 

 of the gallant captain, — speaks of the shots which leave 

 nothing more to be wished for from eye, — hand, — lead and 

 gunpowder, and is perfectly guiltless of giving him credit for 

 occasionally shooting with a long bow. It is well known in 

 America, that now and then a Kentucky rifle-shooter attains 

 such a degree of certainty in bringing down any object with- 

 in the range of vision, that at length the expenditure of his 

 powder and ball becomes altogether unnecessary, — racoons 

 and squirrels " giving in" the moment his piece is brought to 

 bear upon them, acting probably on the same principle that 

 induces certain culprits, when they see no possibility of es 

 caping conviction, to plead guilty, hoping to gain a mitigation 

 of punishment for having spared the time and trouble of the 

 judge and jury. If, therefore, we remark, that the recital of 

 some incidents in the present adventurous narrative, has 

 strongly brought to our recollection passages in the travels 

 of the never-yet-rivalled Baron Munchausen, this impression 

 must not be attributed to our ignorance of what has been 

 and may be achieved in the way of ball shooting. The 

 singularly unpleasant situation in which the above celebrated 

 traveller once found himself placed, in juxta-position with an 

 individual of the bruin tribe, — and the extraordinary display 

 of skill and presence of mind by which he extricated himself, 

 when his stock of ammunition consisted of only two gun-flints, 

 — proves how much may be accomplished, even with the 

 most limited resources, if a person will only exert his wits to 

 the best advantage. 



The bagging a stately camelopard in his native wilds, by a 

 shot from his favorite rifle, was an object of our author's high- 

 est ambition. But the Captain's first essay in giraffe- shoot- 

 ing was not destined to be successful. 



" I had shot a hartebeest for the savages, when an object which had re- 

 peatedly attracted my eye — but which I had as often persuaded myself was 

 nothing more than the branchless stump of some withered tree — suddenly 

 shifted its position, and the next moment I distinctly perceived that singu- 

 lar form, of which the apparition had ofttiines visited my slumbers, but 



1 For the precise meaning of the word ' comflustercate, ' sec Dr. Peter's 

 Dictionary of obsolete verbs. 



