Forest and Frontiers; Or, Adventures Among the Indians
History
Forest and Frontiers; Or, Adventures Among the Indians
Hunting; Indians of North America
It was now my turn, so, taking them coolly right and left with my
little rifle, I made the most glorious double shot that a sportsman's
heart could desire, disabling them both in the shoulder before they
were even aware of my position. Then snatching up my other gun from
Carey, who that moment had ridden up to my assistance, I finished the
first lion with a shot about the heart, and brought the second to a
standstill by disabling him in his hind quarters. He quickly crept
into a dense, wide, dark green bush, in which for a long time it was
impossible to obtain a glimpse of him. At length, a clod of earth
falling near his hiding-place, he made a move which disclosed to me
his position, when I finished him with three more shots, all along the
middle of his back. Carey swam across the river to flog off the dogs;
and when these came through to me, I beat up the peninsula in quest of
the fourth lion, which had, however, made off. We then crossed the
river a little higher up, and proceeded to view the noble prizes I had
won. Both lions were well up in their years; I kept the skin and skull
of the finest specimen, and only the nails and tail of the other, one
of whose canine teeth was worn down to the socket with the caries,
which seemed to have affected his general condition.
Mr. Cumming Hunting Rhinoceroses.
Mr. Cumming thus describes his encounter with some rhinoceroses and an
eland, in the country of the Bechuanas.
It was on the 4th of June, 1844, that I beheld for the first time the
rhinoceros. Having taken some coffee, I rode out unattended, with my
rifle, and before proceeding far I fell in with a huge white
rhinoceros with a large calf, standing in a thorny grove. Getting my
wind she set off at top speed through thick thorny bushes, the calf,
as is invariably the case, taking the lead, the mother guiding its
course by placing her horn, generally about three feet in length,
against its ribs.
My horse shied very much at first, alarmed at the strange appearance
of "Chukuroo," but by a sharp application of spur and jambok I
prevailed upon him to follow, and presently, the ground improving, I
got alongside, and, firing at the gallop, sent a bullet through her
shoulder. She continued her pace with blood streaming from the wound,
and very soon reached an impracticable thorny jungle, where I could
not follow, and instantly lost her. In half an hour I fell in with the
second rhinoceros, being an old bull of the white variety.
Dismounting, I crept within twenty yards, and saluted him with both
barrels in the shoulder, upon which he made off, uttering a loud
blowing noise, and upsetting every thing that obstructed his progress.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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