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and were rapidly pursuing and gaining ground on me. Under these circumstances, I determined to reserve my fire as a last resource; and, turning off at right angles in the opposite direction, I made for the banks of the small river, with the view to take refuge among the rocks on the other side, where I should have been safe.

'Before I got within fifty yards of the river, the elephants were within twenty paces of me-the large female in the middle, and the other three on either side of her, apparently with the intention of making sure of me; all of them screaming so tremendously, that I was almost stunned by the noise. I immediately turned round, cocked my gun, and aimed at the head of the largest-the female. But the gun, unfortunately, from the powder being damp, hung fire till I was in the act of taking it from my shoulder, when it went off, and the ball merely grazed the side of her head.

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Halting only for an instant, the animal again rushed furiously forward. I fell-I cannot say whether struck down by her trunk or not. She then made a thrust at me with her tusk. Fortunately for me she had only one, which, still more luckily, missed its mark. Seizing me with her trunk by the middle, she threw me beneath her fore-feet, and knocked me about between them for a little space; I was scarcely in a condition to compute the time very accurately, but, judging from my feelings, it appeared an intolerably long one, and I had great reason to complain of the "leaden-footed minutes, which seemed to be hours in my uncomfortable situation.

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Once she pressed her foot on my chest with such force that I felt the bones bending under the weight; and then she trod on the middle of my arm, which fortunately lay flat on the ground at the time. During this rough handling, however, I never entirely lost my recollection, else I have little doubt she would have settled my accounts with this world; but, owing to the roundness of her foot, I generally managed, by twisting my body and limbs, to escape her direct tread.

While I was still undergoing this buffeting, Lieutenant Chisholm, of the Royal African Corps, and Diedrick, a Hottentot, fired several shots at her from the side of a neighbouring hill, one of which hit her in the shoulder; and at the same time her companions retiring and screaming to her from the edge of the forest, she reluctantly left me, giving me a cuff or two with her hind feet in passing. I rose, picked up my gun, and staggered away as fast as my aching bones would allow me; but, observing that she turned round, as if meditating a second attempt on my life before entering the bush, I lay down in the long grass, by which means I escaped her observation.

'On reaching the top of the hill I met my brother, who had not been at this day's hunt, but had ran out on being told by one of the men, "Sir, I saw somebody killed by the elephant just now; I don't know whether it was your brother or Mr. Chisholm; but killed he was, for I saw his brains." He afterwards heard from others he met on the way that I was the unlucky person, and was of course not a little surprised at seeing me with whole bones, though plastered

with mud from head to foot. My face was a little scratched, indeed, by the elephant's feet, which were none of the smoothest; my ribs ached, and my right arm was blackened with the squeeze of it; but these were trifling injuries considering the ordeal I had gone through. 'While my brother and I were yet talking of the adventure, an unlucky soldier of the Royal African Corps, of the name of M'Clare, attracted the attention of a large male elephant. The ferocious animal, which, like that I had just escaped from, had been infuriated by the numerous wounds he had received, instantly gave chase, and caught him under the height where we were standing-carried him some distance in his trunk-then threw him down, and, bringing his fore-feet together, trod and stamped upon him for a considerable time, till life was extinct. Leaving the body for a while, he again returned, as if to make quite sure of his destruction, and, kneeling down, crushed and kneaded the body with his fore-legs. Then, seizing it again with his trunk, he carried it to the edge of the jungle, and threw it upon the top of a high bush. While this tragedy was going on, my brother and I scrambled down the rocky hill and fired at the furious animal: but we were at too great a distance to be of any service to the unfortunate man.

'On the present occasion, the hunters derived some security from their numbers, for, as soon as the elephant gave them chase, they retreated as fast as their legs would carry them up the side of the hills, and the animal, seemingly puzzled which to wreak his vengeance on, after pursuing them for two or three hundred yards, would stop short, and return to the wood for security. Woe betide the luckless wight who lags too far behind the rest! It happened thus to the poor fellow whose fate I have recorded. Getting tired of the sport, he gave his firelock to another of the party, with the intention of returning to the village, just at the moment when the male elephant was making a charge on his pursuers. Instead of following the others in their flight, he turned in the opposite direction, and, being without his coat and waistcoat, his white shirt immediately attracted the animal's attention, when he was about to retreat to the wood, and he caught him as I have related.

Shortly after this catastrophe, a shot from one of the people broke this male elephant's left fore-leg, which completely disabled him from running. On this occasion, we witnessed a touching instance of affection and sagacity which deserves to be related, as it so well illustrates the character of this noble animal.* Seeing the distress of her mate, the female from which I so narrowly escaped, regardless of her own danger, quitting her shelter in the wood, rushed out to his assistance, walked round and round him, chasing away the assailants, and still returning to his side and caressing him. Whenever he attempted

*We are told by another recent traveller, that the Caffres, while engaged in a conflict with the elephant, always keep addressing him as 'Mighty Lord,'' High Chief,' 'Illustrious Noble,' and so forth;-and that, when one is slain, none of the Caffre chiefs partake in the banquet of elephant steaks, because the animal is considered as of their own rank

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to walk, she placed her flank or her shoulder to his wounded side, and supported him. This scene continued nearly half an hour, until the female received a severe wound from Mr. C. Mackenzie, of the Royal African Corps, which drove her again to the bush, where she speedily sank exhausted from the loss of blood; and the male soon afterwards received a mortal wound from the same officer.'-vol. ii. p. 79-87.

Here we close our extracts from one of the most amusing books we have lately met with. We are always shy of depending, as to serious colonial questions, on the opinions of persons who have been unfortunate in their own locations; and therefore we shall not quote any of Mr. Moodie's severe strictures, either on the missionaries among the Hottentots, whose little settlements are, according to him, so many focuses of hypocrisy and disaffection,or on the growth of dissenting chapels in the various towns of the Cape Colony, which he ascribes to the decidedly republican principles of all our countrymen of the middling and lower orders.' The Lieutenant's refractory Hottentot servants seem to have found, on various occasions, shelter and protection at missionary stations; and we have seen how severely the elder Moodie suffered by the unprincipled desertion of the long-faced artizans who formed the bulk of his followers from Scotland. To these, and other personal circumstances, the Lieutenant's bitter diatribes must no doubt be mainly ascribed. On the other hand, from considerations of a different sort, which we need not waste time in expounding, we set little value on the pro-missionary and promethodist statements of Mr. Pringle. We can accept neither of these writers as a safe authority on subjects of this kind.

With regard to the general question of South African Colonization, we think the two books lead, on the whole, to exactly the same conclusion-namely, that a family in middle life whose habits have been agricultural, who have some little capital at command, and who are willing to sacrifice everything in the likeness of civilized society, beyond the pale of their own settlement,—cannot in any of our colonies find a situation where they might be more sure of a coarse abundance soon, and by-and-bye of accumulated wealth while there is a vast and daily increasing demand for mere labour of every sort, so that individuals of the working order, whether in town or country, who can manage to pay the passage to the Cape, and will serve steadily for a very few years, may count to a perfect certainty on realizing property enough to elevate them in their turn to the class of landed yeomen. Even at Albany, for instance, according to the latest accounts we have seen, mechanics were receiving at least 5s. a-day; farm labourers 3s. 9d. a-day; and house servants, besides food and lodging, from 20l. to 30l. per annum. We confess that, were we called on to advise any indivi

dual

dual in either of these classes, when hesitating between the Cape and Canada, we should feel it very difficult to decide. But assuredly we should much prefer either the Cape or Canada to any of the Australian colonies.

Two other new books on South Africa have reached us-the 'Wanderings' of Mr. Steedman, in 2 vols. 8vo., and the Researches in Caffraria' of the Rev. Stephen Kay, a missionary, 1 vol. 12mo. We cannot say much for either of them--quotations from their pages after Pringle and Moodie would hardly be endurable. Still any one thinking of settling in those regions will do well to possess himself of these works also. They both contain some details which such a reader will esteem valuable. One fact, of real moment, we owe to the missionary ;-namely, that the system of Artesian wells has recently been introduced by some of the English emigrants in the district of Albany, and being attended with signal success, and already adopted eagerly by the more intelligent of the Dutch farmers in that neighbourhood, bids fair to extend, ere long, over the colony, and thus relieve South African agriculture of what has hitherto been its chief impediment, namely, the want of water for the purposes of irrigation. (Kay, p. 440.) May we not anticipate advantages beyond all price, for the African continent in general, from the ultimate systematic application of this invention? *

ART. IV.-An Account of the Rev. John Flamsteed, the First Astronomer Royal; compiled from his own Manuscripts and other authentic Documents, never before published. By Francis Baily, Esq., F.R.S., &c. &c. London, 1835. 4to. pp. 672.

WE

E have risen from the perusal of this important volume with mingled feelings of sorrow and satisfaction-of deep regret for its disclosures derogatory to that high reputation in which certain names have deservedly been enrolled in the annals of science and philosophy-above all, ONE immortal name, which had hitherto been handed down unsullied by a single blot—that of Sir Isaac Newton. On the other side, the book has its gratifying features for it has completely rescued the memory of Newton's coadjutor, not only from neglect, but from a cloud of misrepresentations, sufficient to have overwhelmed for ever any character less strongly armed with honesty than that of Flamsteed.

We are well assured that all men of science, both at home and abroad, will duly appreciate the zeal and ability of Mr. Baily,

See on this subject a very luminous chapter in Sir Francis Head's recent Life of Abyssinian Bruce.

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the Vice-President of the Astronomical Society, to whose gratuitous labours, and they have not been light, we are indebted for the production of the work before us; into better hands, we may safely assert, its valuable materials could not have fallen: his profound knowledge of mathematics and astronomy pointed him out, in a particular manner, for the task of Editor; and he has performed it with that clearness of elucidation, feeling, and judgment which might have been expected from one of his correct and business-like habits. The expensive work has been brought out, in a limited impression, by order of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, with the view of supplying copies of it to astronomical observatories, celebrated astronomers, public libraries, literary and scientific institutions, and to individuals distinguished for general science, whether at home or abroad.

To Mr. Baily also is due the sole merit of having rescued from oblivion the largest portion of the highly-interesting documents which this volume includes. He says,

During the year 1832 I was informed that an opposite neighbour of mine (Edward Giles, Esq. No. 5, Tavistock Place) was in possession of a large collection of original manuscript letters, written by the celebrated Mr. John Flamsteed to his friend Mr. Abraham Sharp, formerly his assistant at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, who at that time resided at Little Horton, in Yorkshire, where he lived a very secluded life, passing most of his time in astronomical calculations. These letters were found some years ago, at Mr. Sharp's house, in a box deposited in a garret, filled with various books and papers; and Mr. Giles was good enough to send them over to me for my perusal. I immediately recognized the hand-writing of Flamsteed, and found that they contained much interesting and original matter, connected with his astronomical labours.'-Preface, pp. xiii. Among the variety of matters which this correspondence embraces, the principal, the most novel, and the most interesting, are the account of the repeated difficulties and impediments which delayed, and almost prevented, the publication of the Historia Cœlestis, and the new light which it throws, not only on the history of that transaction, but also on the whole of Flamsteed's labours in the infancy, as it may be called, of the science of astronomy.' But Mr. Baily did not stop short on making this valuable and unlooked-for discovery.

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'Having recollected to have formerly seen, at the Royal Observatory, some manuscript papers originally belonging to Mr. Flamsteed, I proceeded thither to examine them more minutely, in order to see if any additional information could be obtained on this point; the Astronomer Royal kindly affording me every assistance in the pursuit of my inquiries. To my great surprise and delight, I found there a vast mass of MS. books, papers and letters belonging to Flamsteed,

VOL. LV. NO. CIX.

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