CHAP. i. BUFFALO. 69 



to glance. A bull, on the contrary, is quite invulnerable in 

 this part of the body for all practical purposes. I have seen 

 them shake their head when hit in the ear, as if stung by 

 a gnat ; and though there is a place just above the eyes, 

 between the horns, an inch or two long by half an inch broad, 

 it is the merest chance if they drop to a shot aimed there. 

 You may, however, stun a bull by a ball in the head, and 

 I remember a case in point. I had got close to one in thick 

 jungle, and aimed at the ear, bringing it down on the spot ; 

 and thinking it was dead, both I and the Kaffir who 

 accompanied me sat down to respectively take snuff and 

 to smoke. After a few minutes we heard it breathing 

 heavily, and I went up and, to make sure, fired point-blank 

 into the other ear. The breathing ceased, and I returned 

 to finish my pipe. After another five minutes, I rose and 

 commenced loading, but had only got the powder down, 

 when the brute jumped up and ran between us ; luckily, 

 however, too dazed to take any notice. We never saw it 

 again, though we followed it for some distance, and I have 

 little doubt it recovered. There are plenty of other in- 

 stances of stunned buffalo getting up long after they were 

 supposed to be dead. It has even happened that the 

 hunter has cut off its tail as a trophy and as a proof that 

 he had killed it (the usual thing to do), and has gone to 

 camp for help to break the animal up, and on his return 

 found it gone, and I once heard of one that got up while 

 they were cutting its chest open to see whether it 

 was fat. 



A buffalo will often get away with a broken shoulder, 

 especially if broken high up, but never, or rarely, when it 

 is the hind-leg that is injured. The best place to finish 



