THE COUP DE GRACE. 201 



gone to notice me ; so, stepping up, I put him out 

 of pain by shooting him between the eyes, when a 

 convulsive quiver passed over the body, and all 

 was still. I found my first shot had proved fatal, 

 having entered just behind the shoulder and pene- 

 trated the lungs ; whilst the second had passed 

 through the neck. The dimensions of this bull 

 far exceeded any we had hitherto killed, and his 

 mane, forelock, and the hair on his flanks, was 

 much longer. His horns were nearly eighteen 

 inches in circumference at the base, and short in 

 comparison. The bunchowr, although not so high 

 at the shoulder as the bison of the low country, is 

 a larger and more formidable animal than the 

 American species. He is very short in the legs, 

 and massively built, yet very active, and capable 

 of getting over the most difficult ground in a sur- 

 prisingly short time. Their general colour is 

 black, with dark ash under the belly and inside 

 the legs ; but they vary. I have seen some skins 

 that were altogether black. We hunted over this 

 part of the country for ten days, having famous 

 sport, when, finding our supplies getting short, 



