VIII SIX BUFFALO BULLS SHOT 143 



violence of the impact. Probably the buffalo was 

 as much surprised as I was. At any rate, he never 

 stopped to see what had happened, but galloped off 

 again across the open ground on the other side of 

 the palmetto scrub and plunged into the reeds. 



Men who hunted big game in South Africa at a 

 time when that country was worth living in, are 

 often charged with wastefully slaughtering large 

 numbers of wild animals. Every one must answer 

 this charge for himself. Personally I do not plead 

 guilty. I never killed any animal for mere sport ; 

 but it was often necessary to shoot what may seem 

 to any one who does not realise the circumstances 

 an extravagant amount of game in order not only 

 to supply one's own followers with food, but also 

 to gain the goodwill of the natives of the country 

 in which one was travelling. I find an entry in 

 my diary for August 20, 1879: ''Shot six buffalo 

 bulls." That without explanation seems a big order. 

 But, as it happened, on the previous evening I 

 had met my friends Collison and Miller on the 

 banks of the Chobi, and found them both down with 

 fever, and their native followers without food. The 

 next day it was necessary for me to shoot enough 

 meat not only to supply the immediate wants of 

 more than fifty men, but to take them to the 

 waggons on the Mababi river, which was several 

 days' journey distant. 



Taking up the spoor of a big herd of buffaloes, I 

 killed six fine bulls, not one ounce of meat of any 

 one of which was wasted. Incidentally I may say 

 that I killed these six buffalo bulls with ten shots 

 from a single- barrelled ten-bore rifle, using round 

 bullets and six drachms of powder. I had no kind 

 of adventure with any one of these animals. 

 Another entry for December 6 in the same year 

 stands : *' Nine Burchell's zebras ; two eland 

 bulls." These animals were killed soon after 



