CHAP. i. BUFFALO. 23 



to me, a supposition which was afterwards confirmed by 

 my bullet being cut out of her. 



As the camp was several miles off, and the sun on the 

 verge of setting, we soon afterwards left the spot, though 

 there were no doubt many buffaloes still standing in the 

 reeds. Our numbers had been increased by several of 

 our bearers in search of meat, and by some of the Bombo 

 Kaffirs who were out trapping, and had been attracted by 

 the firing, so that the line which I headed homewards 

 amounted to not far short of a hundred men, and their 

 triumphant hunting song could be heard far and wide, 

 causing many a troop of gnu and zebra to raise their 

 heads in astonishment and watch us as we passed. Every 

 hunter wore at his belt the tails of all he had killed, and 

 those who had none, and they formed a good proportion, 

 were loud in their explanations and excuses. 



Only twenty-nine had been brought to bag, though 

 several hundred shots must have been fired ; but when it 

 is taken into consideration how seldom a single ball kills 

 these large animals, and the excitement and consequent 

 missing a scene of this kind was sure to produce, such a 

 number as twenty-nine cannot be considered bad, and is, 

 indeed, considerably the largest I have ever seen killed on 

 one day. My own case might be instanced regarding the 

 number of shots fired relative to the number killed ; my 

 share on this day being three head, while I had fired no 

 less than eighteen shots, few, if any, of which had missed. 



The very next day after this I witnessed a rare and 

 most curious spectacle a combat between two buffalo 

 bulls. Many hundreds of the Bombo Kaffirs had arrived 

 in the morning, some bringing maize-beer, maize, millet, 



