V A HUNT FOR BUFFALO 45 



H. having stuck to the camels all day, was the first 

 to get there. He at once started to coast round the 

 reeds, hoping to find the buffalo grazing, but, coming on 

 tracks of a lion, returned to camp and ordered a shooting 

 zariba to be built on the spot, in the hope that the lion 

 might return and fancy donkey for supper. I n the Sunder- 

 bunds of Bengal there are great stretches of reeds sur- 

 rounded by rice-fields, on which the buffalo feed at night ; 

 on the first sign of dawn they retreat into the reeds. 

 There I have stalked and shot them, by following along 

 the narrow water-lanes, paying special attention to the 

 muddy water and the splashes on the reeds caused by 

 the animal's retreat, and I was of opinion that this place 

 should be worked in the same w^ay. However, as H., 

 who had shot buffalo in South Africa, said we should be 

 sure to find them in the morning feeding outside the 

 reeds, it was arranged that he and W. (who were to sit 

 up for the lion) should, as dawn broke, work round the 

 reeds in opposite directions, while I devoted myself to 

 the further end of the area. Next morning at 4 o'clock 

 I turned out with B., who intended to go back to the 

 plain to try for ostrich. After keeping along the foot of 

 the hill for half an hour, I struck out into the valley in 

 the direction of the reeds. As dawn broke, I found that 

 the reed-patch ended in a point, and that this was an 

 hour's journey from the foot-hills. I soon saw that H. 

 had already been along all the further side, where there 

 was a good deal of jungle and long grass. It was 

 evident that in one glade of luxurious vegetation the 

 buffalo had been feeding during the night, and I found 

 well-trodden paths leading into the reeds, where the 



