of the Old World. 167 



sit quiet a moment, and kept handling the lock of an 

 old rifle, until I made up my mind that he would 

 either shoot me or some of the half-a-dozen people 

 whom, in spite of my remonstrance, he would have sit- 

 ting near us, to my intense disgust ; for my olfactory 

 organs received a shock they did not get over for 

 some time, from the offensive smell that was emitted 

 by the exhalation from their bodies, the cocoa-nut oil 

 in their hair, and the garlic and sour rice they had 

 been eating. 



At last the bison broke, and a fine bull came tear- 

 ing down right in front of us, and, when about twenty 



paces distant, D put up his piece ; but, being 



an old and unserviceable piece of goods, it snicked, 

 and away went the quarry in the thick jungle on the 

 other side the watercourse. 



I caught a glimpse of his hinder quarters as he 

 was tearing along the rising ground on the opposite 

 side of the ravine, and I let drive with my rifle, 

 hoping to stop him by a chance shot. I heard the 

 " thud " of the ball as it struck him, and doubled 

 him up for the moment, but he was not hit in a vital 

 place, and I heard him bellowing as he tore through 

 the dense jungle that covers the sides of the hills. 



Both D and I tracked him for some distance, 



and in some places large gouts of blood were visible ; 

 but on coining to a watercourse, which bore the marks 

 of his having cleared at a bound, I gave over the 



