146 AFRICAN NATURE NOTES CHAP. 



or had voluntarily retired from a society which 

 bored them, would often be encountered either 

 alone or two or three together. But along the 

 Chobi I have often seen from five to ten old buffalo 

 bulls consorting together, and I once saw as many 

 as fifteen very old males in one troop. 



Where the country had not been much disturbed, 

 such old buffalo bulls were very slow about getting 

 out of one's way, and would stand calmly watching 

 the approach of so unaccustomed a visitor to their 

 haunts as a human being without showing any sign 

 of fear. Their demeanour was indeed apparently 

 aggressive and truculent ; still, although I have 

 walked up to or close past a very large number 

 in the aggregate of old buffalo bulls, I have never 

 known one to charge before being interfered with. 

 With outstretched noses these formidable-looking 

 creatures would stand gazing at one with sullen 

 eyes from under their massive rugged horns, and 

 would not sometimes run off before sticks and 

 stones were thrown at them ; but in my experience 

 they always did run off sooner or later. African 

 buffaloes are, after all, nothing but wild cattle. My 

 Matabele boys used frequently to speak of them as 

 " Izinkomo ka M'limo" ("God's cattle"). I have 

 walked past thousands and thousands of them, and 

 have never known one to charge when unprovoked. 

 But when a buffalo which has been mauled by lions 

 or wounded by some hunter, and is lying sick and 

 sore in long grass or thick bush, suddenly sees a 

 number of human beings advancing towards its 

 retreat, it will very likely jump up and charge 

 through them, inflicting perhaps a deadly blow with 

 one of its massive crooked horns as it passes. Once 

 a buffalo has been wounded and gets into thick 

 jungle or reeds or long grass, it becomes a most 

 dangerous animal, especially to an inexperienced 

 sportsman who has not yet acquired the art of 



