South African Big Game Hunting in the 1840s

"Oswell was reckoned the greatest hunter of his day." -Spectator, 1900

"The greatest hunter ever known in modern times." -Sir Samuel W. Baker

"Some of his hunting tales are enough to make Nimrod turn in his grave." - The Book Buyer, 1900

Referred to by natives as "Tlaga," (meaning "on the look-out, wary, like game") William Cotton Oswell (1818-1893) was an English born 19th century explorer and big game hunter who explored Africa with Livingstone and gained a reputation of the greatest of all African big game hunters.

In 1894, four chapters on African big game hunting written by William Cotton Oswell appeared in the Volume 17 of the Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes (a book containing a collection of chapters from various authors on big game hunting). It is these chapters, along with an introduction by Sir Samuel W. Baker that have been republished here for the convenience of the interested reader:

• CHAPTER I. SOUTH AFRICA FIFTY YEARS AGO

• CHAPTER II. SECOND EXPEDITION TO SOUTH AFRICA

• CHAPTER III. LATER VISITS TO SOUTH AFRICA

• CHAPTER IV. WITH LIVINGSTONE IN SOUTH AFRICA

In these chapters, Oswell recounts his exciting experiences as Africa's greatest big game hunter and pioneering explorer.

In describing the rhino, Oswell writes:

"I could never understand the great power and strength of a rhinoceros' horn. It is sessile on the bone of the snout, but not part of, or attached to it; apparently it is only kept in its place by the thickness of the skin, and yet, as I mention hereafter, a white rhinoceros threw me and my horse clear up into the air."

In recounting a run-in with a lion, Oswell states:

"I did the only thing that I could-jammed the spurs in and tried to make a gallop of it; but my follower was too close, and before I could get up full speed I heard her strike the ground heavily twice in her bound, and with the third she sat up behind me. She jumped short, however, and failed to get hold with her mouth, but drove her front claws well into the horse's quarters, and a hind foot underneath him, and so clung ..."

Another time, Oswell recounts being chased by an elephant:

"The elephant thundered straight through obstacles we were obliged to go round, and in fifty yards we were fast in a thick bush and he within fifteen of us. As a last chance I tried to get off, but in rolling round on my saddle my spur gored the pony's flank, and the elephant screaming over him at the same moment, he made a convulsive effort and freed himself, depositing me in a sitting position immediately in front of the uplifted forefoot of the charging bull...."

Oswell was reckoned the greatest hunter of his day, and he fulfilled the highest standard as laid down for the ideal hunter, having neither the bloodthirstiness of Gordon-Cumming, nor the necessity of making his living by it, as was the case of Selous in the last quarter of the century.