Hunting Buffalo 49 



back, and charging with his heavy plate, knocking 

 this stem against me several times. He was snorting 

 blood and glaring at me in a terrible rage. 



At last he came to the stem I was on, and as it 

 had no branches for foot hold, I could cling on no 

 longer, so, as he was boring at it, I hung on with one 

 hand, and my knees, and held the heavy gun with the 

 other hand, and when the muzzle was behind his crown 

 I pulled the trigger. The charge was not well home r 

 and the re-coil sent me flying out of the tree with 

 two bones in my hand broken, and a scar which I 

 bear to this day. The gun in one direction, I in 

 another ; but the bull, fortunately, dead. I did not 

 feel much afraid at the time, but for several nights 

 I would dream that he had me and wake up in a 

 perspiration of dread. I can see the savage beast 

 now, trying to lick me with his tongue, to get me 

 out of the little tree. Had he not been wounded 

 twice he would have got me out and killed me. He 

 had the finest pair of horns I had ever seen. 



I returned to the camp in an awful pickle 

 covered with blood and gave the people a shock. I 

 think a wounded buffalo the most dangerous of all 

 African animals. 



To give an idea of the power of a buffalo's 

 tongue, Philip Minnaar had an old Kaffir named 

 Lefuri, whom a buffalo bull had chased into a tree. 

 The tree was too low to allow him to get out of 

 reach and the only perch he had was one branch. 

 The buffalo actually licked away the entire calf 

 from one leg, on which the poor wretch stood, before 

 the bull was shot by his master. I have seen the 

 man with his shrivelled leg. He went a trip with 

 us, large game shooting about 1862, down the 

 Mahalaquena River. The buffalo's tongue is like a 

 coarse file and of great power, evidently for the 



