1776- betrayed ms to the two rhinocerofes, while they flood F eb ru a ry . ~T, . j . , liftening and moving their ears about juft at the entrance -,of a marrow vale, through which we muft neceflarily pafs, ¡if we wiihed to reach our waggon before night. In this critical fituation, therefore, We had no Other refource than to fhoot them immediately, or at leaft to frighten them from the fpot. Of thefe two different methods we were moft inclined to attempt the former, though neither our pieces, nor the charge they were loaded with, were any ways adapted to game o f fuch an enormous fize; my Hottentot having taken with him a fmall fowling-piece only, into which we put a leaden ball in addition to the fhot With which it was already charged. My piece, indeed, was loaded' with a tin ball, which however, was not near large enough for a rhinoceros. Notwithftanding this, we crept on till we got behind a large fpreading bufh, which, with refpedt to its height and the extent of its branches, was like a tree, and which flood forwards on the plain at the diftance o f fifteen, paces only from the two rhinocerofes. My piece, which had, unknown to me, got damp the night before, went off, to my great furprize and mortification, with a hiffing noife, and hung fife a long while; and, inftead o f hitting the old rhinoceros in the heart, only wounded her, as we afterwards found, in the pofterior angle of the lower jaw. It made her, however, fomewhat fwag about with the fore part of her body, and fnuff up her noftrils, as i f endeavouring to difcover her enemy by the fcent; but as we were to the windward o f her, fo that ihe could not get fcent o f us, fhe advanced forwards to the •quarter where fhe heard the noife, clofe followed by her calf, calf, with a flow meafured pace, and feemingly full of attention, in all probability with an intent to fearch the bufh all over which flood between her and us. The blood now began to mount in our faces, chiefly from the appre- henfion, left while we were endeavouring to avoid one of the beafts, we fhould run into the jaws of the other; for with one rhinoceros alone, a fportfrnan, who is tolerable agile, may very well venture upon occafion to play at blind man’s buff. My attendant and companion, the fame Hottentot who had made fo miferable a figure in the prefence of the Caffres, now flood to his ground boldly, as he had promifed to do, and did not fire, before the animals were juft upon us; by this means being alarmed, they ruihed forward with great violence, as we fuppofed they would, and confequently pafled us, when the Hottentot inftantly leaped up among the boughs of the bufh, and I ftole off to the other fide of it. ‘ Having found our horfes again at the place where we had tied them up out of the way, my curiofity led me to fee which way the two rhinocerofes had taken. In fadt, I happened to find them much fooner than I expected ; and at the fame time difcovered, that they were nearer-fighted than I could have ever imagined, they ftanding about eighty or ninety paces from me on the open plain, without feeming tb perceive either me or my horfe, though they ftood liftening with their heads turned towards the quarter whence I was coming towards them. After this, getting off my horfe, and walking on till I got within fifty or fixty paces o f them, without any thing to cover my approach, I fired at the old one, which even now did not fee me, only fwinging the fore part of her body from one fide to the other with great violence, 3a3 „ I776- F eb ru ary . V-^VNJ
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