THE TERRIBLE. 



through his thigh. It then caught the wretched 

 man in its trunk, and elevating him in the air, 

 dashed him with great force upon the ground, 

 kneeling and trampling upon him, and as it were 

 kneading his crushed and flattened corpse into the 

 dust, with an implacable fury. The remains, 

 when discovered, presented a most appalling 

 spectacle.* More recently, another ivory-hunter, 

 named Wahlberg, met a fate almost precisely 

 parallel. 



Little inferior to the elephant in strength, 

 though by no means approaching it in sagacity, 

 the different species of African rhinoceros manifest 

 an irascibility against man which waits not for 

 provocation ; or rather the sight of a man is itself 

 a sufficient provocation to excite a paroxysm of 

 restless fury. Steedmant mentions a Hottentot 

 who had acquired a reputation as a bold elephant- 

 hunter, who on one occasion had had his horse 

 killed under him by a rhinoceros. Before he could 

 raise his gun, the enormous beast rushed upon 

 him, thrust its sharp-pointed horn into the horse's 

 chest, and threw him bodily, rider and all, over 

 its back. The savage animal then, as if satisfied, 

 went off', without following up its victory, and 

 before the Hottentot could recover himself suffi- 

 ciently for an avenging shot. 



Mr. Oswell met with a similar rencontre. He 

 was once stalking two of these beasts, and, as 

 they came slowly to him, he, knowing that there 

 is but little chance of hitting the small brain of 

 this animal by a shot in the head, lay, expecting 

 one of them to give his shoulder, till he was 

 within a few yards. The hunter then thought 

 that by making a rush to his side he might suc- 



* Steedman's M Wanderings," p. 74. 

 + Ibid., i. p. 69. 



237 



