92 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



commotion ; thrust above the surface are seen the 

 snouts of numerous crocodiles rousing up for 

 the evening's carnival. The bellowing of the 

 hippopotami shakes the earth as numbers of huge 

 heads appear floating down stream, like the masks of 

 monstrous frogs; then black, glistening and dripping, 

 the hippos leave the water, passing along well-worn 

 tracks to feed. There is a shaking of the papyrus 

 as the buffalo leave their reedy covert, looming 

 larger than life in the fast-thickening darkness. A 

 whinnying from a herd of pallah stationed somewhere 

 out on the veldt ; a neighing of zebras approaching 

 the water under the guidance of an old stallion ; last 

 of all, in the sudden darkness, a ferocious sobbing 

 roar that cannot be mistaken the king of the 

 forests is afoot it is the voice of Africa ! 



The Cape buffalo was first mentioned in 1705 by 

 Kolben, who noted its abundance near Capetown. 

 Sparrman described and figured a specimen which 

 he obtained on December 13, 1775, near Bushman's 

 River; in 1777, Paterson observed it in Caledon ; 

 later, Sir Cornwallis Harris first met with it near 

 Mosega (1836), and Gordon Gumming (1844) 

 records it from the Bakatla district of Bechuanaland. 

 In recent years the African buffaloes have been 

 sadly thinned out by gunners and decimated by the 

 rinderpest. 



Arising about 1883-84 in the Dinka and Galla 

 cattle countries on the Upper Nile, the rinderpest 



