BUFFALOES 413 



farm passers-by had twice been charged, unprovoked, by old 

 bulls. But the real danger comes when wounded buffaloes 

 are followed, especially into thick cover. 



Nowadays, in Africa, buffalo have to be killed on foot, 

 by tracking, or by still-hunting through the country in 

 which they are found. Their heavy bodies and sharp 

 hoofs make it comparatively easy for a good tracker to fol- 

 low them, and although their senses are keen they are easier 

 to stalk than antelope, being easier to see and just as easy 

 to approach when seen. They are everywhere less easy to 

 kill than rhinos. They do not travel such distances as ele- 

 phants, and hence their chase does not necessitate such 

 wearing fatigue. The actual circumstances of the stalk 

 vary completely with the cover and the local habits of the 

 animals. Beasts that only venture from the forest or thick 

 jungle at night are, of course, very hard to follow successfully. 

 In light, open jungle, or where the beasts feed on the plains 

 near cover in daylight, it is not difficult to bag a buffalo. 



Usually there is little danger in the first shot if taken 

 from a reasonable distance, although even under such cir- 

 cumstances there is now and then a determined charge. 

 Following a wounded buffalo is proverbially risky, as we 

 have already said. Veteran hunters differ widely in their 

 estimate as to which beast is the most dangerous; the 

 claims of lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, and rhinoceros 

 have each been stoutly defended. Our own belief, based on 

 all the evidence, is that when a buffalo bull does turn to 

 bay it is to the full as formidable as — and probably more 

 formidable than — a lion, and much more formidable than 

 an elephant, but that it turns to bay far less freely than 

 either. Our own slight experience supported this view. 



