X INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



over him; that he could save himself as he did by throwing 

 himself backwards on to the ground, and discharging his piece 

 upwards at random is what could only happen once in a thou- 

 sand times. A while afterwards he shot at and wounded a black 

 rhinoceros; and when subsequently 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. For such a rapid succession 

 of hair-breadth escapes it would be difficult to find a parallel. 



A few days afterwards Andersson arrived at Lake Ngami, — 

 " The object of my ambition," he writes*, " for a number of 



* 'Lake Ngami,' p. 431. Mr. Andersson adds to tlie passage quoted in 

 the text tlie following characteristic reflections : — 



" The first sensation occasioned by this sight was very curious. Long as 

 I had been prepared for the event, it now almost overwhelmed me. It was 

 a mixture of pleasure and pain. My temples throbbed and my heart beat 

 so violently that I was obliged to dismount, and lean against a tree for sup- 

 port, until the excitement had subsided. The reader will no doubt think 

 that thus giving way to my feelings was very childish ; but ' those who 

 know that the first glimpse of some great object which we have read or 

 dreamt of from earliest recollection is ever a moment of intensest enjoyment, 

 will forgive the transport.' I felt unfeignedly thankful for the unbounded 

 goodness and gracious assistance which I had experienced from Providence 

 throughout the whole of this prolonged and perilous journey. My trials 

 had been many ; but, my dearest aspirations being attained, the difficulties 

 were all forgotten. And here I could not avoid passing my previous life in 

 review. I had penetrated into deserts almost unknown to civilized man ; 

 had suffered the extremity of hunger and thirst, cold and heat, and had 

 undergone desperate toil, sometimes nearly in solitude, and often without 

 shelter during dreary nights in vast wildernesses haunted by beasts of prey. 

 My companions were mostly savages. I was exposed to numerous perils by 

 land and by water, and endured torments from wounds inflicted by wild 

 animals ; but I was mercifully preserved by the Creator through the manifold 

 dangers that hovered round my path. To Him are due all homage, thanks- 

 giving, and adoration." 



