120 THROUGH GASA LAND. 



bases of his horns nearly unite over the forehead, 

 it is almost impossible to kill him with a front shot. 



On passing between two dense clumps of 

 rushes, a three-year-old cow, fat as a stall-fed 

 heifer, trotted into the open at a distance from us 

 of fifty yards, where she stood broadside, in evi- 

 dent wonder at the unknown creature before her. 

 The first shot knocked her over, and the second, 

 at short range, terminated her career, but not 

 before she had grunted out her displeasure, de- 

 fiance, or summons for her comrades to come 

 to the rescue. As the last it must have been 

 taken, for inside the reeds we could distinctly 

 hear the heavy tread of approaching animals, so 

 deeming precaution necessary, we all took to our 

 legs, till we gained the shelter of some giant water 

 rushes. Considering myself safe, although I had 

 not run over a hundred yards, I turned round to 

 see if I was pursued, and so saw the performance 

 of one of the most extraordinary exhibitions I ever 

 witnessed. In it there were upwards of a dozen 

 actors, each of whom apparently tried to do as much 

 mischief as possible to his neighbour, or whoever 

 came within reach. Then all would cease their 

 violent exercise, smell the carcass, especially, it 

 struck me, in the vicinity of the bullet holes, 

 when, bellowing, bucking, and kicking, the same 

 wildly enacted vicious battle would be repeated. 

 This was not the result of grief for the loss of a 



