CHAP. I. BUFFALO. 55 



men who have shot an equal number of buffaloes, though of 

 course I have been often enough charged, but a tree or a 

 bush, or an effective shot from some one else, has always 

 averted the danger before it became very imminent; and 

 on the only two occasions on which I have been overtaken 

 by a buffalo, not counting the time the cow caught me, 

 and which I have already mentioned, I was fortunate 

 enough to get off with a few severe bruises. On the first 

 I was out pig-sticking with a large pack of dogs, not far 

 from the river Mbuluzi to the north-east of Swaziland, 

 an amusement I had lately taken to. Our party, consist- 

 ing of about a dozen men, was armed solely with spears, 

 for though I know it was unwise with such weapons to go 

 out hunting in a country where there were plenty of lions 

 and leopards, yet as I could not restrain the men from firing 

 at the pig, I made the few hunters that chose to come on 

 their idle days leave their guns behind. We had seen a 

 troop of pig go into a small thorn thicket, and had instantly 

 cheered the dogs in after them. The moment they got 

 inside they gave tongue, and, as the muttered roar of a 

 buffalo (when not uttered aloud) slightly resembles the 

 grunt of a boar, I fancied that they had one of the latter at 

 bay, and kept shouting to the dogs, hoping that they would 

 force him out. It is probable that the buffalo, already 

 enraged by them, was attracted by the noise I made ; 

 at any rate, the first intimation I had of its presence was 

 its nose protruding within a yard of me, as he made a 

 furious charge out, uttering the now unmistakable roar 

 which has such a savage vindictive sound. My only 

 chance was to throw myself flat, and as I did so it leaped 

 over without touching me. It was instantly followed by 



