fangs of tbe 1Rofc, IRffle, anfc (Bun 



" I may here add," writes the Doctor, " an adventure 

 with an elephant of one who has had more narrow escapes 

 than any man living, but whose modesty has always 

 prevented him from publishing anything about himself. 

 When we were on the banks of the Zouga in 1850, 

 Mr. Oswell pursued one of these animals into the dense, 

 thick thorny bushes met with on the margin of that 

 river, and to which the elephant usually flees for safety. 

 He followed through a narrow pathway, by lifting up 

 some of the branches, and forcing his way through the 

 rest ; but when he had just got over this difficulty, he 

 saw the elephant, whose tail he had but got glimpses 

 of before, now rushing towards him. There was then 

 no time to lift up branches, so he tried to force the 

 horse through them. He could not effect a passage ; 

 and as there was but an instant between the attempt 

 and failure, the hunter tried to dismount, but in doing 

 this, one foot was caught by a branch, and the spur 

 drawn along the animal's flank ; this made him spring 

 away and throw the rider on the ground with his face 

 to the elephant, which being in full chase, still went on. 

 Mr. Oswell saw the huge fore foot about to descend 

 on his legs, parted them, and drew in his breath as 

 if to resist the pressure of the other foot, which he 

 expected would next descend on his body. He saw 

 the whole length of the under part of the enormous 

 brute pass over him; the horse got away safely. I 

 have heard of but one other authentic instance in 

 which an elephant went over a man without injury, 

 and, for any one who knows the nature of the bush in 

 which this occurred, the very thought of an encounter 



