Which book this came from?


After having something to eat, Chapman proposed to try and get a shot at the buffalo. The horses were saddled, and Chapman and boy  and myself followed the spoor a short distance and saw them.

The bush being pretty thick we got parted, unluckily, and I managed to shoot a very fat cow. Chapman nearly got caught by an old bull which he did not see until he had got nearly past him. The buffalo made a rush at Chapman, who started to get away, but, the bush being very thick and a fallen tree across his path, he was checked.

He looked back and saw the buffalo close behind him and death staring him in the face. On the spur of the moment he threw his gun at the beast. The weapon caught him on the back, and this distracted his attention from Chapman for a few seconds and gave him a chance of getting away. I went afterwards with Chapman to get his gun.

Recollections of William Finaughty, elephant hunter 1864-1875

Kathi is the best. I want her on my trivia team.

She is right of course.

Excellent book too...

quote:

Originally posted by dogcat:
Kathi is the best. I want her on my trivia team.

She is right of course.

Excellent book too...

You actually need Google on your trivia team.


Recollections of William Finaughty, elephant hunter 1864-1875https://broward.digital.flvc.org › object › OBJ › view
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horses were saddled, and Chapman and boy 1 and myself followed the spoor a short distance and saw them. The bush being pretty thick we got parted, unluckily ...
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A couple of my favorite passages from Finaughty's book:

"You sportsmen of to-day, just imagine what it was to carry all day in the blazing sun a heavy old muzzle-loader with your powder loose in one jacket pocket, a supply of caps in another and your bullets in your pouch. Add to this a gun that "kicked" one's shoulder with almost as much force as the bullet struck the elephant, and you can believe me that it was no child's play. In fact the recoil was so great that I was more than once knocked down by it and on two occasions I was taken completely out of the saddle. One's shoulder was literally black and blue after a day's elephant shooting.

. . . We came across any number of elephant spoor and on the following day I got hold of them with my twelve-bore breech-loader, and I never had such a punishing time in my life. I was using home-made cartridges. The bullets I had moulded myself and made very hard, and the cartridges were filled almost to the top with fine powder. The recoil was awful, and it makes my eyes moist even to-day to think of it. I did not feel it so much at the first two or three shots, but afterwards each shot brought excruciating agony.

. . . On the following morning I could not lift my arm. My shoulder and chest were simply black and blue, very tender and greatly swollen. Suffice it to say that I could not use my arm for a fortnight and it did not increase my admiration for the newly-invented breech-loader, for elephant shooting at any rate."

They don't make them like him anymore.