. Wild scenes of a hunter's life; . nded by steep precipices andabrupt parapets of rock, the abodes of whole colonies of black-faced baboons, which, astonished to behold such novel intrudersupon their domains, leisurely descended the craggy mountainsides for a nearer inspection of our caravan. Seating themselvestogether upon a broad ledge, they seemed to hold a council as tothe propriety of permitting us to proceed further through theifterritories. Having advanced about nine miles, I drew up mywagons on the bank of a rivulet, where the spoor of large gamewas extremely abundant. In the bed of t
. Wild scenes of a hunter's life; . nded by steep precipices andabrupt parapets of rock, the abodes of whole colonies of black-faced baboons, which, astonished to behold such novel intrudersupon their domains, leisurely descended the craggy mountainsides for a nearer inspection of our caravan. Seating themselvestogether upon a broad ledge, they seemed to hold a council as tothe propriety of permitting us to proceed further through theifterritories. Having advanced about nine miles, I drew up mywagons on the bank of a rivulet, where the spoor of large gamewas extremely abundant. In the bed of the stream I discoveredthe scaly skin of a manis, which had been newly eaten by somebird of prey. This extraordinary animal, which in its habits par-takes of the nature of the hedgehog, is about three feet in length,and is covered all over with an impenetrable coat of mail, consist-ing of large rough scales about the size and shape of the husk ofan artichoke; these overlap one another in an extraordinary and HUNTING RHINOCEROSES. 28. MAN IS. rery beautiful manner. Its tail is broad, and likewise coveredwith scales; on being disturbed it rolls itself into a ball. Themams is met with throughout the interior of South Africa, but it israre and very seldom seen. Having taken some coffee, I rode out unattended, with my rifle,and before proceeding far I fell in with a huge white rhinoceroswith a large calf, standing in a thorny grove. Getting my wind,she set off at top speed through thick thorny bushes, the calf, aslb invariably the case, taking the lead, and the mother guiding itscourse, generally about three feet in length, against its ribs. Myhorse shied very much at first, alarmed at the strange appearanceof ^« Chuckuroo, but by a sharp application of spur and jambokI prevailed upon him to follow, and presently, the ground im-proving, I got alongside, and, firing at the gallop, sent a bulletthrough her shoulder. She continued her pace with blood stream-ing from the wound, and very
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, bookpublishe, booksubjecthunting
