120 THE BUFFALO. 



as a guide. Six hours' hard riding brings us to within a 

 quarter of a mile of the nearest herd. The main body stretches 

 over the plains as far as the eye can reach, the wind blowing 

 in our faces. We should have liked to have attacked them 

 at once, but the guide will not hear of it, as it is contrary to 

 the law of his tribe. We therefore shelter ourselves behind a 

 mound, relieving our horses of their saddles to cool them. In 

 about an hour one hundred and thirty hunters come up, every 

 man loading his gun, looking to the priming, and examining 

 the efficiency of his saddle-girths. The elder caution the less 

 experienced not to shoot each other, such accidents sometimes 

 occurring. Each hunter then fills his mouth with bullets, which 

 he drops into the gun without wadding ; by this means loading 

 more quickly, and being able to do so whilst his horse is at 

 full speed. We slowly walk our horses towards the herd, 

 Advancing about two hundred yards, the animals perceive ^^ 

 and start off in the opposite direction, at the top of their speed. 

 We now urge our horses to full gallop, and in twenty minutes 

 are in the midst of the stamping long-haired herd. There 

 cannot be less than four or five thousand in our immediate 

 vicinity, all bulls ; not a single cow amongst them. The 

 scene now becomes one of intense excitement, the huge bull? 

 thundering over the plain in headlong confusion, while the 

 fearless hunters ride recklessly in their midst, keeping up an 

 incessant fire but a few yards from their victims. Upon the 

 fall of each buffalo the hunter merely throws, close to it, 

 some article of his apparel to denote his own prey, and then 

 rushes on to another. The chase continues for about one 

 hour, extending over an area of about six square miles, where 

 may be seen the dead and dying buffaloes to the number of five 

 hundred. In spite of his horsemanship, more than one hunter 



