TKIUlliam Cotton swell 345 



the wounded beast sprang up and struck him heavily. 

 I felt the thud, but the horse did not fall, and cantered 

 on for twenty yards, when the whisk of his tail dabbled 

 my trousers with blood, and on getting off I found a 

 hole thirty inches deep, and nearly wide enough to 

 get into, in his flank, for the horn had been driven in 

 up to the base. The bull was too weak to follow up 

 the attack, and died where he stood ; the horse crawled 

 on for a few yards, and then, seeing it was a hopeless 

 case, I put a ball through his head." 



Like Gordon Gumming and all other South African 

 hunters, Oswell had a great respect for the buffalo f 

 " the bravest and most determined of all animals when 

 wounded and at bay. His pluck is splendid : no single 

 lion will face him, though, attacked by stealth or numbers, 

 he occasionally falls a prey." A remarkable instance 

 of the buffalo's courage and power is given by Major 

 Vardon, Oswell's comrade in his second South African 

 expedition, in the following letter to Dr. Livingstone : 



" My South African Journal is now before me, and I 

 have got hold of the account of the lion and buffalo affair ; 

 here it is : 



' September i$th, 1846. Oswell and I were riding 

 this afternoon along the banks of the Limpopo, when 

 a water-buck started in front of us. I dismounted, and 

 was following it through the jungle, when three buffaloes 

 got up, and, after going a little distance, stood still, and 

 the nearest bull turned round and looked at me. A ball 

 from the two-ouncer crashed into his shoulder, and they 

 all three made off. Oswell and I followed as soon as I 



