172 ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



toward him, followed by my men, and the natives lead- 

 ing the dogs. We advanced unobserved until we were 

 within twenty yards of some of the outside cows. Here 

 I enjoyed a fine view of the herd : they stood drinking 

 on a vast surface of granite rock, and, though no trees 

 intervened between us and them, they took not the 

 slightest notice of us. 



At length I gave the bull a shot in the shoulder, and 

 then followed him up. He stumbled, and fell once upon 

 the slippery rock, but, recovering his feet, went off at 

 a pace which I could hardly equal on the dangerous 

 rock. By good luck, most of my dogs came to my as- 

 sistance, and I slew him in a few minutes with eight 

 or ten shots. 1 had directed Hendric and Carey to try 

 to hold some of the cows for me until I was ready with 

 the bull ; accordingly, these doughty Nimrods followed 

 and turned four cows for a short time, and then left 

 them, without even firing a shot to advise me of their 

 course ; the consequence of which was, that I knocked 

 up myself, my dogs, and horses, in chasing the retreat- 

 ing herd to a great distance, to no purpose. 



On the following day I shot another bull elephant 

 and a white rhinoceros ; and on the afternoon of the 

 12th, returning to camp weary and worn, I came un- 

 expectedly upon a bull elephant of unusual size, stand- 

 ing in the shade on the margin of the Limpopo. He 

 took refuge in an extensive jungle of impracticable wait- 

 a-bits, where it was impossible to do any thing on horse- 

 back, and I was therefore obliged to hunt him on foot. 

 I slew him with thirty bullets after an extremely severe 

 and dangerous combat of about two hours. I afterward 

 felt much the worse for this severe exertion. 



On the 14th I dispatched Hendric to bring on the 

 wagons, which came up in the afternoon. Night set 



