Five Years of a Hunter's Life in the Far Interior of South Africa. With Anecdotes of the Chase and Notices of the Native Tribes, Volume 1J. Murray, 1855 - Big game hunting |
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Five Years of a Hunter's Life in the Far Interior of South Africa: With ... Roualeyn Gordon-Cumming No preview available - 2019 |
Five Years of a Hunter's Life in the Far Interior of South Africa: With ... Roualeyn Gordon-Cumming No preview available - 2013 |
Common terms and phrases
abundant Africa after-riders animals antelope assagais Bakatla Bamangwato Bechuanas beheld black rhinoceros blesboks blue wildebeests Boers breakfast buck buffalo bull elephants bushes Bushmen camp cantering Carollus cattle CHAP chase Cobus Colesberg course covered dawn direction discovered distance districts dogs eland encamped endeavour extremely eyes feet fire flesh following day forest gallop gemsbok giraffe Grahamstown grass Griquas ground halted hartebeests head heard hills horns horses Hottentots hour hundred yards hunting hyænas inspanned jambok kaross Kleinboy koodoos kraal Kuruman large herd length lion lioness miles mountains Mutchuisho natives night obtained old bull once Orange River oryx ostriches outspanned oxen passed plain proceeded quaggas reached returned rhinoceros ridden riding rifle roan antelope rocky rode saddle shot shoulder Sicomy Sicomy's side skin spoor springboks stood Strydom Thebus trees trekked tribes troop tusks Vaal River varieties vley waggons wait-a-bit white rhinoceros wild wounded СНАР
Popular passages
Page 237 - Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, Or abide by thy crib? Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? Or will he harrow the valleys after thee?
Page 236 - ... bullets hardened with solder. During the day the rhinoceros will be found lying asleep or standing indolently in some retired part of the forest, or under the base of the mountains, sheltered from the power of the sun by some friendly grove of umbrella-topped mimosas. In the evening they commence their nightly ramble, and wander over a great extent of country. They usually visit the fountains between the hours of nine and twelve o'clock at night, and it is on these occasions that they may be...
Page 255 - The females are of lower stature and more delicately formed then the males, their height averaging from sixteen to seventeen feet. Some writers have discovered ugliness and a want of grace in the giraffe, but I consider that he is one of the most strikingly beautiful animals in the creation ; and when a herd of them is seen scattered through a grove of the picturesque parasoltopped acacias which adorn their native plains, and on whose uppermost shoots they are enabled to browse by the colossal height...
Page 239 - Long streaks of foam now streamed from his mouth, and a profuse perspiration had changed his sleek gray coat to an ashy blue. Tears trickled from his large dark eye, and it was plain that the eland's hours were numbered. Pitching my rifle to my shoulder, I let fly at the gallop, and mortally wounded him behind ; then spurring my horse, I shot past him on his right side, and discharged my other barrel behind his shoulder, when the eland staggered for a moment and subsided in the dust.* The two Baquaines...
Page 285 - I determined to bring matters to a crisis; so, spurring my horse, I dashed ahead, and rode right in his path. Upon this the hideous monster instantly charged me in the most resolute manner, blowing loudly through his nostrils; and although I quickly wheeled about to my left, he followed me at such a furious pace for several hundred yards, with his horrid horny snout within a few yards of my horse's tail, that my little Bushman, who was looking on in great alarm, thought his master's destruction inevitable....
Page 237 - ... and assaulting large bushes in the most violent manner. On these bushes they work for hours with their horns, at the same time snorting and blowing loudly, nor do they leave them in general until they have broken them into pieces.
Page 257 - On looking where he pointed, I saw that the old tree was indeed a camelopard, and, on casting my eyes a little to the right, I beheld a troop of them standing looking at us, their heads actually towering above the trees of the forest. It was imprudent to commence a chase at such a late hour, especially in a country of so level a character, where the chances were against my being able to regain my wagons that night.
Page 298 - The younger bulls remain for many years in the company of their mothers, and these are met together in large herds of from twenty to a hundred individuals. The food of the elephant consists of the branches, leaves, and roots of trees, and also of a variety of bulbs, of the situation of which he is advised by his exquisite sense of smell. To obtain these he turns up the ground with his tusks, and whole acres may be seen thus ploughed up.
Page 281 - On the 22d, ordering my men to move on toward a fountain in the center of the plain, I rode forth with Ruyter, and held east through a grove of lofty and wide-spreading mimosas, most of which were more or less damaged by the gigantic strength of a troop of elephants, which had passed there about twelve months before. Having proceeded about two miles with large herds of game on every side, I observed a crusty-looking old bull borele, or black rhinoceros, cocking his ears one hundred yards in advance.
Page 185 - I was, or any thing connected with my present position. I heard the rushing of light feet as of a pack of wolves close on every side of me, accompanied by the most unearthly sounds. On raising my head, to my utter horror I saw on every side nothing but savage wild dogs, chattering and growling. On my right and on my left, and within a few paces of me, stood two lines of these ferocious-looking animals, cocking their ears and stretching their necks to have a look at me ; while two large troops, in...