afforded us of the tribes with the singular features of their life; for, interesting as is the work of Mr. Cumming, it owes its charms to the adventures he fell in with, related in a lively manner, without inspiring us with respect for the hero of them. Fitted by nature to use a rifle, and kill wild beasts, he appears to have chosen the only path where his genius would shine. To some one gift is given, to some another; and to Mr. Cumming, skill in the slaughter of the savage brute and the gentle antelope may make up for the absence of nobler qualities.

Not entering into a detail of all the coffee, brandy, meal, and the thousand other articles with which the traveller stored his capacious Cape waggons, we may glance at the armament he carried for his campaign against the denizens of the wilderness. With such provisions, aided by the courage, nerve, and skill, with which the modest narrator emphatically informs us he has been liberally blessed, the issue of the war could be little doubtful. Three double-barrelled rifles; three stout double-barrelled guns, for rough work; and a heavy German rifle, carrying twelve balls to the pound; lead-ladles, bullet-moulds, loading-rods, shot-belts, powder-flasks; three hundred weight of lead; half a hundred weight of pewter, to harden the bullets; ten thousand prepared leaden bullets, fifty thousand percussion caps, two thousand flints, and four hundred pounds of powder. Such was the formidable equipment of the single hunter.

But, if his preparations were great, the results were equal. He shot more than a hundred large elephants, scores of lions, hippopotami, and rhinoceroses, knocked over buffaloes without end, and elands, rheinboks, rheeboks, gemsboks, and springboks, beyond calculation. The tall camel-leopard many times laid its lofty head on the grass at the bidding of his rifle; and the mailed crocodile, struck in the nostril by a rifle-ball, found, like Achilles, that a creature, vulnerable in one part, cannot escape the skill of a determined enemy. Nearly thirty tons of skins and horns are now piled up, as the hunter's trophies, besides a more practical reward in the coinage of the realm. We may, therefore, imagine that a narrative of such a huntsman's career, admirably told, must be exciting to an unusual degree. We may take an Asmodean flight over the far interior of Southern Africa, and descend to join the hunter in a few of his encounters with the four-footed inhabitants of those beautiful regions. They were not, however, the sole denizens of the country. Races of men, as wild as the lions whom they dreaded, dwelt at intervals in the provinces through which the traveller passed, especially among the Bamangwato mountains, where a king-a personage found invariably among savage races-held his court, surrounded by the hereditary wisdom of his realm, em

bodied in indolent vagabonds of the forest, and bartered his stores of ivory for the muskets of the white man. Mr. Cumming comes from the North, where he imbibed a love of deer-stalking, and learned also the philosophy of Iago- Put money in thy purse.' He sold his muskets to the African king, at a profit of three thousand per cent. !

During the early part of the journey ostriches were frequently observed. Our traveller affords a curious account of them :

'If a person discovers the nest, and does not at once remove the eggs, on returning he will, most probably, find them all smashed. This the old birds almost invariably do, even when the intruder has not handled the eggs, or so much as ridden within five yards of them. The nest is merely a hollow scooped in the sandy soil, generally among heath, or other low bushes; its diameter is about seven feet; it is believed that two hens often lay in one nest. The hatching of the eggs is not left, as is generally believed, to the sun; but, on the contrary, the cock relieves the hen in the incubation. The eggs form a considerable item in the Bushman's cuisine; and the shells are converted into water-flasks, cups, and dishes. I have often seen girls, who belong to the wandering tribes of the Ualahadi desert, come down to the fountains from their remote habitations, sometimes situated at an amazing distance, each carrying on her back a kaross, or a network, containing from twelve to fifteen ostrich egg-shells, which had been emptied by a small aperture at one end; these they fill with water, and cork up the hole with grass.

A favourite method adopted by the wild Bushman for approaching the ostrich and other varieties of game, is, to clothe himself in the skin of one of these birds, in which, taking care of the wind, he stalks about the plain, cunningly imitating the gait and motions of the ostrich, until within range, when, with a well-directed poisoned arrow, from his tiny bow, he can generally seal the fate of any of the ordinary varieties of game. When a Bushman finds an ostrich's nest, he generally ensconces himself in it, and there awaits the return of the old birds, by which means he generally secures the pair. It is by means of these little arrows that the majority of the fine plumes are obtained which grace the heads of the fair throughout the civilized world.'-Vol. i. p.. 114.

On the flats bordering the Vraal river, the hunter fell in with some springboks, in pursuit of which he galloped. Gradually, herd after herd appeared in view, seeming to spring out of the earth, until the whole plain was whitened, as far as eye could reach, with these animals. A herd of black gnoos occasionally mingled with them, in singular contrast of colour. Away they ran in myriads, whisking and lashing their long white tails, as the horseman sped after them; he, however, only succeeded in wounding one, which escaped. Nevertheless, he was now convinced that the rumours he had heard of the

exhaustless numbers of wild animals in these regions, were not fabulous; and, therefore, was content with his first essay, unsuccessful as it had been. During the succeeding day's journey, the flats were observed to be covered with thousands of skulls and bones, in miniature resemblance to Sinbad's elephant burialground, indicating the number that lived and died in this finelypastured province. Another interesting sight to the sportsman was the jackal in chase of the antelope; both creatures being marvellously swift of foot, the gentler generally falling a victim to the fangs of its carnivorous pursuer. Far into the interior Mr. Cumming was assisted, in his chase of a gigantic bullbuffalo, by three lions, who overtook the mighty beast, and assisted in his destruction. Two of them were shot.

Chasing the springbok, the hartebeast, the giraffe, and the ostrich, with considerable success, the hunter panted for nobler game. He was, therefore, rejoiced on learning that he was approaching the country where lions were numerous. Some men met him with the intelligence that two had been shot by the Boers, and were lying in front of a farm-house further on. Hastening to view the victims, our sportsman was surprised to find them extended on the grass, their skins completely riddled and spoilt by the balls, and their heads literally knocked to pieces with bullets. This is the custom among the Boers. Having shot a lion, they fear to approach the victim until perfectly assured of his death, so they pelt him with lead until his hide is worthless. On one occasion, a man having dismounted to discharge his gun, was knocked over by the lion before he could regain his saddle. The brute did not injure him, but stood over his prostrate form shaking his shaggy mane, lashing his tail, and growling angrily, while the unfortunate hunter's comrades, fearing to approach, opened a regular rifle battery from a distance-shot the man, missed the lion, and returned home without the satisfaction of either saving their friend or revenging his death.

While he pursued his way, however, towards the elephant's forests, in the Bamangwato country, the hunter did not neglect the sport that offered itself on the route. The whole region teemed with animal life, and many a wild chase took place after the bounding antelope and the graceful rheinbok. One day, a huge boar was started, and Mr. Cumming rode after him for two miles; arriving within gun-shot, he resolved to drive the game towards the waggon, that the men might have little trouble in securing its flesh. The brute steadily ran along, appearing to know the way well. Surprised at this, the hunter galloped ahead of him, confident that he had but to dismount when he chose and bowl him over. Still the boar trotted behind the horse like a hog. Suspecting he had some impenetrable covert to fly to,

the traveller pulled up amid a labyrinth of enormous holes, the burrows of the ant-bear. The wild boar stopped opposite one of these, faced his enemy, foaming at the mouth, and glaring through his small malicious eyes, backed into it, and was lost to the sight of the disappointed hunter.

His next great encounter was more successful. A number of vultures was remarked ahead, a troop of jackals below, feeding on a dead steinbok, and a huge lioness sharing their repast. Mounted on his best horse, the huntsman started away in the direction of the game, and the splendid brute immediately charged off, carrying her tail erect, and sweeping swiftly over the bare and level plain. Presently, she pulled up, roared aloud, sat down, and gazed on the horseman as he approached, as much, says the writer, as to say, 'Does this fellow know who he is after?' Having thus rested a few moments, as though meditating a plan of operations, the lioness sprang up, moved her tail rapidly from side to side, showed her teeth, and growled fiercely. Then she made a short, forward run, as though to intimidate the huntsman, who firmly kept his ground. Uttering a loud, rumbling noise like thunder, the majestic brute stretched out her ponderous arms, and lay down on the grass. Mr. Cumming, with his two Hottentot attendants, then dismounted, and all three prepared their fire-arms. The lioness appeared to attach some significance to this movement, for she sat up and moved about uneasily, now looking backwards, as though meditating an escape, now forwards, as though calculating the chances of an assault. The Hottentots were fearfully alarmed, shaking like aspen leaves; their dark skins paled as the mighty brute advanced and stood within sixty yards of her enemies. The hunter fired; his ball crippled the lioness in the shoulder. One of the attendants pulled a trigger also, but the piece exploded in his hand; and the third danced about like a duck in a gale of wind. In a moment the infuriated animal had made a leap, and inflicted a gash twelve inches long in the flesh of Mr. Cumming's horse, quitting her hold, however, instantaneously, and trotting near the dismounted sportsman. He discharged his second barrel, and, in another second, the lioness was stretched dead on the ground. In the agonies of death she turned on her back, extended her neck and fore arms convulsively, and then fell on her side; her lower jaw fell, blood streamed from her mouth, and she expired.'

We shall allow Mr. Cumming himself to tell our readers how he first fell in with and shot a cameleopard :

"Galloping around a thick bushy tree, under cover of which I had ridden, I suddenly beheld a sight the most astounding that a sportsman's eye can encounter. Before me stood a group of ten colossal

giraffes, the majority of which were from seventeen to eighteen feet high. On beholding me they at once made off, twisting their long tails over their backs, making a loud switching noise with them, and cantered along at an easy pace, which, however, obliged my horse to put his best foot foremost to keep up with them.

The sensations which I felt on this occasion were different from anything I had before experienced during a long sporting career. My senses were so absorbed by the wondrous and beautiful sight before me that I rode along like one entranced, and felt inclined to disbelieve that I was hunting living things of this world. The ground was firm and favourable for riding. At every stride I gained upon the giraffes, and, after a short time, at a swinging gallop, I was in the midst of them, and turned the finest cow out of the herd. On finding herself driven from her comrades and hotly pursued, she increased her pace, and cantered along with tremendous strides, clearing an amazing extent of ground at every bound, while her neck and breast, coming in contact with the dead old branches of the trees, were continually strewing them in my path. In a few minutes I was within five yards of her stern, and, firing at the gallop, I sent a bullet into her back. Increasing my pace, I next rode alongside, and, placing the muzzle of my rifle within a few feet of her, fired my second shot behind her shoulder; the ball, however, seemed to have little effect. I then placed myself directly in front, when she came to a walk. Dismounting, I hastily loaded both barrels, putting in double charges of powder. Before this was accomplished, she was off at a canter. In a short time I brought her to a stand in the dry bed of a watercourse, where I fired, at fifteen yards, aiming where I thought the heart lay, upon which she again made off. Having loaded, I followed, and had very nearly lost her; she had turned abruptly to the left, and was far out of sight among the trees. Once more I brought her to a stand and dismounted from my horse. There we stood together, alone in the wild wood. I gazed in wonder at her extreme beauty, while her soft dark eye, with its silky fringe, looked down imploringly at me, and I really felt a pang of sorrow in this moment of triumph for the blood I was shedding. Pointing my rifle to the skies, I sent a bullet through her neck. On receiving it she reared high on her hind legs, and fell backwards with a heavy crash, making the earth shake around her. A thick stream of dark blood spouted out from the wound, her colossal limbs quivered for a moment, and she expired.'-Vol. i. p. 271.

In this way the hunter proceeded on his journey towards the elephant forests in the Bamangwato country, now chasing the giraffe, now the eland, now the gemsbok and the gnoo; occasionally, also, he fell in with pleasant, and sometimes with disagreeable adventures with the natives. They wondered much at the arrival of the white man. They gazed in marvel at his waggon and his camp fire, and the stores which he displayed; but, more than all, they were astonished to see him in full chase of the wild beasts that had long shared with the human kings the sovereignty of that wild and savage land. Another source of utmost wonder