IN THE FOREST 



on the plain and in the forest. This buffalo is an 

 animal of great strength, of powerful build, and of 

 proverbial ferocity. Its very thick hide is black, and 

 its tail long, and terminating in a tuft of hairs. The 

 pursuit of this animal when wounded is very dangerous. 

 Entering a thicket, it changes its direction, goes in 

 front, and conceals itself. At the moment the 

 hunter, who is following its trail, passes, it rushes 

 headlong at him, from behind or from the side, and 

 disembowels him with a stroke of its horn. 



Nevertheless, buffaloes succumb to the attack of 

 lions, who take them by surprise, usually by tracking 

 them, as it is a general rule to find, behind a troop of 

 buffaloes, a party of lions following the ruminants, 

 in expectation of a favourable opportunity. 



But it is not only when he is in company that the 

 lord of the forest attacks the buffalo ; frequently a 

 solitary old bull, or a heifer about to calve is brought 

 to the ground by a single lion after a frightful struggle. 

 It happened to me one night to hear the echoes of one 

 such terrible contest. It was at first a furious battle 

 in the course of which the bellowings did not yield 

 in any way to the growlings, where the saplings bent 

 under the weight of the adversaries, where the trunks 

 of the trees groaned under the blows of horns, which had 

 now become maladroit. Afterwards the fight grew less 

 fierce ; there was a groan of agony ; and finally a great 

 silence, broken only towards morning by the roarings of 

 the conqueror proclaiming his victory to the dawn. 



(77) 



