RUNNING GAME WITH HORSES. 217 



be exceptional. Regular systematic hunting it is true 

 can be done, and is constantly done along the line of 

 march, by skilled plainsmen who manage their move- 

 ments with such dexterity that it is rare for them to 

 get left out all night, involuntarily. But things gener- 

 ally turn out differently when a non-professional hunter 

 attempts it: his movements are sure to be hampered 

 by want of time, and he is generally obliged to hurry, 

 and this in nine cases out of ten is fatal to success ; 

 and we can only say, there have been more accidents 

 in the way of people getting lost, caused by this 

 practice, than have occurred in any other way. 



Another plan, at one time much in vogue on the 

 prairies of America, and in South Africa, was the 

 practice of running game with horses, and shooting 

 while in full career from on horseback, which certainly 

 has the advantage of giving the ardent sportsman an 

 exciting run, while combining to a certain extent the 

 home and foreign styles of hunting. In the old buffalo 

 days in America large numbers of these splendid beasts 

 were often killed in this way, as the herds were often 

 so large that they became wedged up in a dense mass, 

 so that the movements of those in front hampered those 

 behind, and prevented them using their best speed. 

 It was then comparatively easy with a good horse, 

 not overweighted, to ride right in among the rear ranks, 

 and kill, slay, and disable, as fast as the hunter 

 could load and fire; there were but two things to be 

 avoided : one was riding too far into the herd, so that 

 buffalo got in rear of the hunter and could charge into 

 his horse's hind-quarters and upset both horse and 

 rider; the other was shooting an animal so close 

 alongside that when it fell the horse was apt 



