1 62 AFRICAN BUFFALO. 



of the forest. They may at times in the course of 

 their migrations be obliged to cross considerable sec- 

 tions of open country, but this is only done under 

 stress of circumstances, and their abiding place is on 

 the edge of great forests, where they can go out to 

 feed upon the open grassy grounds by night, return- 

 ing to the forest with the early dawn; and in no 

 species of hunting is it more necessary, as a general 

 rule, to be up early, than in buffalo hunting; as it is 

 almost useless to attempt to follow them through 

 thick bush by day as they are always hidden in the 

 densest cover, where they are quite invisible. The 

 way in which bands of them will slip away without 

 being heard is also often most remarkable their traces, 

 left upon the place where they have been resting, may 

 indicate that they have only just vacated it; still very 

 often no sound of crackling twigs and branches will 

 reach the hunter's ear the game has stolen away, 

 silently pushing through thorny bush though it may 

 be almost impenetrable to man, without creating a 

 noise audible even at a comparatively short distance. 

 When however, they do not detect the hunter's presence 

 till he is close upon them they will then frequently go 

 crashing through the bushes with the headlong fury of 

 mad bulls ; or if a single animal be suddenly come 

 upon, he will probably charge the intruder with 

 desperate resolution, and even hunt the huntsman, as 

 a terrier does a rat. From these and other circum- 

 stances, which we shall speak of more fully presently, 

 buffalo hunting may be regarded as the most danger- 

 ous of all jungle sports, that is to say, by far a 

 greater number of fatal accidents have resulted from 

 charging buffalo, than from the assaults of any other 



