Buffalo-shooting at Minneria Lake. 117 



ward me. At this distance I should have had ample time 

 to reload before he could have come near me, so I took 

 a quiet shot at him with my four-ounce rifle. A second 

 passed and he pitched upon his head and lay upon the 

 ground, struggling in vain to rise. This was an im- 

 mensely long shot to produce so immediate an effect ; so 

 reloading quickly I stepped the distance. I measured 

 three hundred and fifty-two paces, and I then stood 

 within ten yards of him, as he still lay upon the ground, 

 endeavoring vainly to rush at me. A ball in his head 

 settled him. The first shot had broken his hind leg — 

 and the shot with the big rifle had hit him on the nose, 

 and, tearing away the upper jaw, it had passed along 

 his neck and escaped from behind his shoulder. This 

 was a great chance to hit him so exactly at' such a 

 range. His skull is now in England, exhibiting the 

 terrific effect of the heavy ball. 



I had made up my mind for a long day's work, and 

 I therefore mounted my horse and rode over the plain. 

 The buffaloes were very wild, as I had been shooting 

 here for some days, and there were no less than forty- 

 two carcases scattered about the plain in different 

 directions. I fired several ineffectual shots at immense 

 ranges ; at length I even fired at random into a large 

 herd, which seemed determined to take to the jungle. 

 After they had galloped for a quarter of a mile, a cow 

 dropped to the rear and presently fell. Upon riding up 

 to her I found her in the last gasp ; the random shot 

 had struck her behind the shoulder, and I finished her 

 by a ball in the head. One of the bulls from this herd 

 had separated from the troop, and had taken ti> the 

 lake ; he had waded out for about four hundred yards, 

 and was standing shoulder deep. This was a fin>« tar- 



