ME. OSWELL'S NAEEOW ESCAPE. 621 



which I now melted into bullets. I also spent the remainder of 

 my handkerchiefs in buying spears for them. My men frequently 

 surrounded herds of buffaloes and killed numbers of the calves. 

 I, too, exerted myself greatly ; but, as I am now obliged to shoot 

 with the left arm, I am a bad shot, and this, with the lightness of 

 the bullets, made me very unsuccessful. The more the hunger, 

 the less my success, invariably. 



I may here add 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 any thing about him- 

 self. When we were on the banks of the Zouga in 1850, Mr. Os- 

 well pursued one of these animals into the dense, thick, thorny 

 bushes met with on the margin of that river, and to which the el- 

 ephant 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 toward 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 do- 

 ing 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 in it with such a foe is appall- 

 ing. As the thorns are placed in pairs on opposite sides of the 

 branches, and these turn round on being pressed against, one pair 

 brings the other exactly into the position in which it must pierce 

 the intruder. They cut like knives. Horses dread this bush ex- 

 tremely ; indeed, most of them refuse to face its thorns. 



On reaching Mburuma's village, his brother came to meet us. 



