92 THE OX TRIBE. 



and so severely wounded the great bull leader, that he 

 dropped on his knees, bellowing most furiously. Sup- 

 posing him mortally wounded, the foremost of the hunts- 

 men issued from the covert, and began reloading his 

 musket as he advanced, to give him a finishing shot ; but 

 no sooner did the enraged animal see his enemy in front 

 of him than he sprang up, and ran furiously upon him. 

 The man, throwing down his gun, fled towards the quag- 

 mire ; but the beast was so close upon him, that, despair- 

 ing to escape in that direction, he suddenly turned round 

 a clump of copsewood, and began to ascend a tree. The 

 raging animal, however, was too quick for him, and 

 bounding forward with a tremendous roar, he caught the 

 unfortunate man with his terrible horns, just as he had 

 nearly escaped his reach, and tossed him into the air with 

 such force, that the body fell dreadfully mangled into the 

 cleft of a tree. The Buffalo ran round the tree once or 

 twice, apparently looking for the man, until weakened 

 with loss of blood, he again sank on his knees. The rest 

 of the party, recovering from their confusion, then came 

 up and despatched him, though too late to save their 

 comrade, whose body was hanging in the tree quite dead. 

 The length of a full-grown Buffalo is about eight feet 

 from horns to root of tail, and the height five feet and 

 a half. The horns are massive and heavy, measuring 

 from six to nine feet, following the curve from tip to tip. 

 They are broad at the base, and very nearly meet on the 

 centre of the forehead. Hamilton Smith says, they are 

 " in contact at the base ;" but this is not the case in the 

 several specimens which I have examined, namely, three 

 in the College of Surgeons, four in the British Museum, 

 and two in the Zoological Gardens. 



