260 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
charges out of the bash with great vehemence. Acci¬ 
dents often result from this last peculiarity, as horses 
are so terrified by the unexpected appearance of so 
formidable a beast, that they cannot be made to stir 
from the spot. Oswell, the former hunter and com¬ 
panion of Livingstone, when hunting with Edwards in 
the Matabele land, had a horse killed under him by the 
charge of a Pedjami on one occasion, and on another 
his own leg was pierced through, his life being only 
saved by the opportune appearance of Edwards. 
Dubois, a colonist living in Natal, relates that when 
hunting on the Amatonga Plain, near Lucia Bay, three 
of his Kaffirs were killed by a furious black rhinoceros 
in as many minutes. 
Fortunately, the animal does not see well, and can 
easily be eluded in the forest by anyone with ordinary 
activity and presence of mind, although it must always 
produce a certain feeling of nervousness to have a 
snorting Pedjami at one’s heels. 
In my African hunting expeditions I have shot at 
fifteen rhinoceroses and brought down seven. On the 
open plains, however, I am careful to avoid them, 
although John Dun, of the Tugela, will grapple with 
them even there ; but then he is a perfect veteran in 
hunting. 
When our enemy was about fifty paces from the 
bush he halted a moment and listened, moving his 
long hog-like ears up and down. I was standing, 
ready to fire, a little in advance of the two Bushmen, 
who waited one on each side of me with the reserve 
guns in their hands. 
The mighty animal advanced briskly but with 
marvellous caution. Probably it was not even now 
quite sure of our exact whereabouts, for when only 
twenty paces from us it hesitated and raised one leg 
like an expectant spaniel. Then it bent its head, 
showing its short smooth horn, and I fired as well as I 
could from my oblique position at the left shoulder, 
immediately springing aside four or five paces. A 
cloud of dust, a smell of smoke, a loud grunting, and 
