THE AFRICAN BUFFALO. 239 



Le Vaillant, Sparrman, or Daniel. All travellers 

 have agreed in the danger of wounding, or intruding 

 incautiously upon the haunts of the buffalo; he is 

 easily irritated, and rushes towards his object with 

 blind fury, bearing down all before him ; he possesses 

 also great activity, and in some situations consider- 

 able swiftness ; and in an attack upon a herd, a 

 place of safe retreat is generally looked for before 

 commencing. They are killed in pitfalls, like much 

 of the larger game, but the Dutch colonist or Euro- 

 pean makes use of the rifle alone, while the Hotten- 

 tot prefers following this chase on foot, being more 

 active then the animal in seeking a retreat from his 

 pursuit. Mr Pringle relates the following incident 

 of a buffalo hunt, which we extract, as characteristic 

 of the animal and the sport. 



" A party of boors had gone out to hunt a herd 

 of Buffaloes, which were grazing on a piece of marshy 

 ground, interspersed with groves of yellow wood and 

 mimosa trees, on the very spot where the village of 

 Somerset is now built. As they could not conve- 

 niently get within shot of the game without crossing 

 a part of the valei or march, which did not afford a 

 safe passage for horses, they agreed to leave their 

 steeds in charge of their Hottentots, and to advance 

 on foot, thinking that if any of the buffaloes should 

 turn upon them, it would be easy to escape by re- 

 treating across the quagmire, which, though passable 

 for man, would not support the weight of a heavy 

 quadruped. They advanced accordingly, and under 



