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William Cotton Oswell, Hunter and Explorer
William Cotton Oswell Hunter and Explorer Author:William Edward Oswell Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER XI. RETROSPECT OF HIS AFRICAN CAREER, AND THE OPINION OF HIM HELD BY CONTEMPORARY TRAVELLERS. Romance of his life—Praise of companions, servants, n... more »atives, dogs, horses, and gun —' I was a good rider, but never a crack shot' — Incredible abundance of game — Sensation at time of accidents—Fascination in recollection — Livingstone, the Fabius of South African travel —His original view of sport — Gradual, but complete change—Kafirs' opinion of Oswell's courage—Mr. Webb's testimony to him—Sir Samuel Baker's ; Nimrod par excellence ; pioneer of civilization. Africa was the romance of William Oswell's life. The glorious climate restored him to health and vigour; and he was able to gratify beyond all dreams and anticipations his love of horses and dogs, his passion for sport, riding, shooting, for seeing men, for danger and adventure. In a retrospect of the happy years spent there, he says : ' I was in the saddle for ten or twelve hours a day for close upon five seasons ; I was never ill for a single day— laid up occasionally after an accident, but that was all; I had the best of companions, Murray, Vardon, Livingstone, and capital servants who stuck to me throughout. To tell the good deeds of one of them—my henchman John— through a five years' wandering, would very often be toshow up my own faults; let it be enough to say that he was a perfect servant to a very imperfect master, who now that his friend is dead, feels that he did not value him half enough, though he never loved man more. I never had to raise a hand against a native, and my foot only once, when I found a large, lazy fellow poking his paw into my sugar tin. If I remember right I never lost anything by theft, and I have had tusks of elephants shot eighty miles from the wagons, duly delivered. One chief, a...« less