by our own fireside. I had thus a tolerably good
opportunity of testing their accuracy, and I have no hesitation in
saying that for those who love that sort of thing Mr. Cumming's book
conveys a truthful idea of South African hunting. Some things in it
require explanation, but the numbers of animals said to have been met
with and killed are by no means improbable, considering the amount of
large game then in the country. Two other gentlemen hunting in the same
region destroyed in one season no fewer than seventy-eight rhinoceroses
alone. Sportsmen, however, would not now find an equal number, for as
guns are introduced among the tribes all these fine animals melt away
like snow in spring. In the more remote districts, where fire-arms have
not yet been introduced, with the single exception of the rhinoceros,
the game is to be found in numbers much greater than Mr. Cumming ever
saw. The tsetse is, however, an insuperable barrier to hunting with
horses there, and Europeans can do nothing on foot. The step of the
elephant when charging the hunter, though apparently not quick, is so
long that the pace equals the speed of a good horse at a canter. A young
sportsman, no matter how great among pheasants, foxes, and hounds, would
do well to pause before resolving to brave fever for the excitement
of risking such a terrific charge; the scream or trumpeting of this
enormous brute when infuriated is more like what the shriek of a French
steam-whistle would be to a man standing on the dangerous part of
a rail-road than any other earthly sound: a horse unused to it will
sometimes stand shivering instead of taking his rider out of danger. It
has happened often that the poor animal's legs do their duty so badly
that he falls and causes his rider to be trodden into a mummy; or,
losing his presence of mind, the rider may allow the horse to dash under
a tree and crack his cranium against a branch. As one charge from
an elephant has made embryo Nimrods bid a final adieu to the chase,
incipient Gordon Cummings might try their nerves by standing on railways
till the engines were within a few yards of them. Hunting elephants on
foot would be not less dangerous,* unless the Ceylon mode of killing
them by one shot could be followed: it has never been tried in Africa.

* Since writing the above statement, it has received
confirmation in the reported death of Mr. Wahlberg while
hunting elephants on foot at Lake Ngami.

Advancing to som