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appeared to me. Whilst the teams were being unyoked, I had gone out on horseback with the design of ministering to 
the inordinate appetites of a party of savages who had joined us on the road ; and was busied in the pursuit of a troop of 
Hartebeests, when two colossal figures which my friends at once pronounced to be Borili, were descried, motionless as sta- 
tues, in the middle of the level and treeless expanse, [ at first endeavoured to approach, frog-fashion, upon all fours, under 
cover of the grass, but a strong wind setting towards them, they went off at a heavy trot, and as it was getting dark, I re- 
mounted my horse, and galloping within seventy or eighty yards—the nearest I felt disposed to venture on so short an 
nequaintance —treated the more bulky to a brace of rifle balls. Carrying his snont close to the ground, he did but run the 
faster, and by the time I had repeated the dose without any better effect, it had become so dark that T was compelled ta 
abstain from further hostilities. 
The next apparition was even more shadowy. Accompanied by a band of natives who volunteered to show me a Giraffe, 
I had ridden so far in advance of the waggons—then plodding at a funereal pace through the heavy forest that envelopes the 
foot of Kurrichane —that night urerialeing me, I began to feel apprehensive of having to bivouac in the bush. My compa- 
nions evidently contemplated a similar contingency, and evinetd a vast longing to rejoin four of their number who had wisely 
tarried behind with the carcase of a Sassaybe that I had inconsiderately shot. Giving by signs to understand that 1 disapproved 
of the measure, we pushed on briskly towards the halting ground that had previously been agreed upon, A contumacions 
Rhinoceros was stationed directly in our path, and although repeatedly hailed, most peremptorily refused to make way. There 
was just twilight sufficient to admit of my discharging both barrels of my rifle into his unwieldly form from bebind a strong 
breast-work of thorn bushes. Sneezing violently and wheezing, he ran off in the direction that we were taking, but presently 
subsided heavily in the path, We approached him with caution, and were well pleased to find that he was extinct—a volley 
of musquetry at the same moment in reply to my rifle, together with a bright beacon fire which suddenly blazed forth towards 
heaven, directing our benighted steps to the encampment. ‘ 
Arriving at the. Mariqua several days after this occurrence, we had formed the camp on a verdant spot on the river 
bank near to an extensive Matabili kraal—the captain of which, at the head of some ten of his clan, being clamorous for 
victuals, I willingly placed myself under his guidance, and dived into the heart of the extensive groves, where, although the 
sun was shining brightly, a° dry cutting wind rendered the cold searcely endurable, even under the defence of a duffel jacket. 
After running a few hundred yards, the savages, halting, pointed to a huge shapeless mass, which bore so strong a resem- 
blance to a sleeping Rhinoceros, that without asking any questions, I poured through the trees at his indistinct outline, a broad- 
side, which from treble the same distance, would have more than satisfied any other animal in the creation. But notwithstanding 
that the beast was mortally wounded, he twice contrived to cross the river, and I had no alternative—a cold one though it 
proved—but to wade after him through water which reached to my middle, following the bloody trail among the intricacies 
of the grove, until from single drops the traces became splashes of frothy crimson. “Still striving to fortes his tottering frame 
through the tangled covert, the dying monster at length sank upon his knees, when another bullet behind the shoulder termi- 
nated his giant struggles, as he was tearing up the earth with his ponderous horn. 
* 
A flash like fire within his eyes 
Blazed as he bent no mote to rise; 
And then eternal darkness sunk 
Through all the palpitating trunk — 
Nought of life left save a shivering 
Where his limbs were slightly quivering, ° 
My companion the next morning achieved a ‘gentle passage of arms’ with the yery duplicate of this gentleman: but Ais 
autagonist could not be prevailed upon to surrender to superior weapons, until it had considerably disfigured with the point of 
its horn the stock of the rifle employed in its reduction. Aroused from a siesta in a thick bush by the smarting of a gun- 
shot wound, the exasperated beast pursued its human assailant so closely, that Richardson was fain, in self-defence, to discharge 
the second barrel down its open throat! On our way to the Ooli river, a few days subsequently, having left the waggons to 
proceed by the direct route, I took a circuitous line to the left, and was ascending a stony eminence, when sundry discharges 
of mmusquetry accompanied by loud shouts and clamour, were followed by the sudden appearance of an infuriated female. 
Streaming with gore, she rushed over the brow of the hill with snorts and grunts, looming like a colossal sow—and was 
actually within pistol shot ere a soul was aware of her adyent. No bush presenting itself behind which to hide, I threw my 
hunting cap to divert her attention, “Lingap meanwhile striking his shield, and shouting with stentorian lungs until the brute 
turned off, when I saluted her fat buttocks with the contents of both my barrels, and she was immediately afterwards over- 
turned by a running fire from the Hottentots. ; 
As we advanced, the species became daily more and more abundant, and I shall hardly gain credence when I assert, 
that in the valley of Limpopo specimens were so numerous, that on arriving in the afternoon. at our new ground, it was no 
uneommon thing to perceive a dozen horned snouts protruded at once from bushes in the immediate vicinity, No sooner were 
the teams unyoked, than the whole party in the regular routine of business, having assumed their weapons, proceeded to dis- 
lodge the enemy, and right stoutly often was the field contested. But where is the quadruped that can stand before the grooved 
rifle ? It will take the conceit out of the most contumacious, and like a sedative, will calm his ruffled temper in a minute, 
Every individual came in for a share of cold lead and quicksilyer; and the stubborn brute that would not quietly withdraw, 
