The Zoologist— January, 1873. S345 



fully aware of the richness of Africa. Here he found wild animals 

 innumerable ; with two companions he bagged thirty rhinoceros, 

 and afterwards, when quite alone, eight others fell to his rifle, 

 besides other large game. Gallon took with him to England about 

 five hundred bird-skins, the whole of Andersson's collection, and 

 Andersson took up the project which Galton had abandoned of 

 penetrating to Lake N'gami in company with Hans Larsen, a Dane, 

 a hunter of the first order, possessing a perfect knowledge of the 

 country, herculean strength and an iron constitution. This toil- 

 some journey was relieved by adventures more sensational than any 

 that have been served up to us by what are called the ladies' novels 

 of the period. I will make a few extracts. 



Lying in Ambush. — " At Kobis, one of the nearest stations to N'gami, 

 Andersson had, he himself tells us, his surfeit of shooting. On this and 

 many other occasions he adopted a system of hunting that in South-west 

 Africa, during the dry season, is especially successful, namely, to lie in 

 ambush at night near to some pool. During the daytime the larger animals 

 are dispersed over a wide tract of country, sometimes of many miles in 

 extent, but at night they resort to the water to quench their thirst ; and if 

 at such times the hunter knows his business, he has the opportunity of 

 obtaining much large game. These night-haunts, however, are attended 

 with greater peril than those by day. Andersson was accustomed to 

 ensconce himself in a so-called skarm or screen, that is, a small circular 

 enclosure, six or eight feet in diameter, the walls usually consisting of loose 

 stones, being about two feet in height ; but this afforded him scarcely any 

 protection, and he must, besides, if he would count on a sure shot, allow the 

 beast to approach to within a few paces before firing. We believe that the 

 hunter is never so unprotected against savage animals as in such nocturnal 

 combats. Andersson, indeed, on the first night of his stay in Kobis, was, 

 on three several occasions, in imminent peril of his life. First came an 

 elephant, without his being aware of his approach, and with lowered trunk 

 stood directly over him : that he could save himself as he did, by throwing 

 himself backwards on the ground and discharging his piece upwards at 

 random, is what could only happen once in a thousand times. A while 

 afterwards, he shot at and wounded a black rhinoceros ; and when subse- 

 quently he left the skarm to look after another of those animals he had fired 

 at and struck, he was fiercely attacked by the first rhinoceros, cast headlong 

 to the earth, and had his right thigh ripped up. Lastly, when at sunrise, 

 he attempted to aid his boy, Kamapyu, who, whilst searching for his master, 

 was attacked by the same beast, Andersson again escaped death, as by a 

 miracle : for just as he was on the point of being impaled on its sharp horn, 

 the rhinoceros fell dead from its numerous wounds." — P. ix. 



