XIV 



TREED BY A BUFFALO 297 



looking old beast jumped up and came trotting out, 

 with head up and nose extended, evidently looking 

 for the disturbers of its peace, and as Minyama was 

 hiding behind the trunk of a large tree, and the rest 

 of the Kafirs had made themselves scarce, it at once 

 came straight at me, grunting furiously. I was 

 standing close to a very small tree, not more than 

 six inches in diameter, but as I was unarmed, and to 

 run would have been useless, I swarmed up it with 

 marvellous celerity. The buffalo just came up and 

 looked at me, holding his nose close to my feet, and 

 grunting all the time. He then turned and went 

 off at a lumbering canter, and I then, for the first 

 time, saw that he had been terribly torn and scratched 

 on the hind-quarters and shoulders by lions. Had 

 he tried to knock my little sapling down, he might, 

 I think, easily have accomplished it ; as it was, my 

 legs being bare, and the bark of the tree very rough, 

 I had rubbed a lot of skin off the insides of my knees 

 and the calves of my legs. 



All representations of South African buffaloes 

 charging with their heads lowered are purely imagi- 

 nary, as they never do so ; but on the contrary 

 invariably hold their noses straight out, and lay 

 their horns back over their shoulders. They lower 

 their heads just as they strike. 



As with all dangerous animals, it is impossible to 

 judge by the speed with which buffaloes run away 

 from you, of that which they are capable of exerting 

 when the positions are reversed. Considering their 

 heavy build they are marvellously swift, and even in 

 the open, a fairly good horse will have to do all he 

 knows to keep in front of one, while in bush, anything 

 but a very quick animal stands a good chance of 

 being overtaken. In 1873, a buffalo cow, although 



