I may here add an adventure with an elephant of one who has had more narrow escapes than any man living, but whose modesty has always prevented him from publishing any thing about himself.  When we were on the banks of the Zouga in 1850, Mr. Oswell pursued one of these animals into the dense, thick, thorny bushes met with on the margin of that river, and to which the elephant usually flees for safety.  He followed through a narrow pathway by lifting up some of the branches and forcing his way through the rest; but, when he had just got over this difficulty, he saw the elephant, whose tail he had but got glimpses of before, now rushing toward him.  There was then no time to lift up branches, so he tried to force the horse through them.  He could not effect a passage; and, as there was but an instant between the attempt and failure, the hunter tried to dismount, but in doing this one foot was caught by a branch, and the spur drawn along the animal’s flank; this made him spring away and throw the rider on the ground with his face to the elephant, which, being in full chase, still went on.  Mr. Oswell saw the huge fore foot about to descend on his legs, parted them, and drew in his breath as if to resist the pressure of the other foot, which he expected would next descend on his body.  He saw the whole length of the under part of the enormous brute pass over him; the horse got away safely.  I have heard of but one other authentic instance in which an elephant went over a man without injury, and, for any one who knows the nature of the bush in which this occurred, the very thought of an encounter in it with such a foe is appalling.  As the thorns are placed in pairs on opposite sides of the branches, and these turn round on being pressed against, one pair brings the other exactly into the position in which it must pierce the intruder.  They cut like knives.  Horses dread this bush extremely; indeed, most of them refuse to face its thorns.

On reaching Mburuma’s village, his brother came to meet us.  We explained the reason of our delay, and he told us that we were looked upon with alarm.  He said that Siriatomba had been killed near the village of Selole, and hence that man’s fears.  He added that the Italian had come talking of peace, as we did, but had kidnapped children and bought ivory with them, and that we were supposed to be following the same calling.  I pointed to my men, and asked if any of these were slaves, and if we had any children among them, and I think we satisfied him that we were true men.  Referring to our ill success in hunting the day before, he said, “The man at whose village you remained was in fault in allowing you to want meat, for he had only to run across to Mburuma; he would have given him a little meal, and, having sprinkled that on the ground as an offering to the gods, you would have found your elephant.”  The chiefs in these parts take upon themselves an office somewhat like the priesthood, and the people imagine that they