210 THE WILDERNESS AND JUNGLE 



effectual protection of the buffalo than any 

 game laws. Often the buffalo gives more than 

 he gets, and, as will be related in a later chap- 

 ter, more than one sportsman has been killed 

 by these animals. An old bull buffalo is black 

 and hairless, but the younger males are red. 

 The ears are large and hairy, and the horns 

 are wide and massive, with a helmet, or boss, 

 protecting the forehead between. The largest 

 known buffalo measured 9 ft. without the tail 

 and stood over 4^ ft. at the shoulder. The 

 horns measured 53 in. round the curve and 

 nearly 48 in. from tip to tip. But such 

 figures are quite exceptional. 



Like other wild oxen, the African buffalo is 

 fond of wallowing in water and of plastering 

 its body with mud as protection against the 

 bite of the tsetse-fly, which is said to derive 

 from this source the parasite of the dreaded 

 disease called rinderpest, which infects the tame 

 herds and ruins the farmers, who, in conse- 

 quence, clamour for the extermination of buffalo 

 in their district. As one of the tsetse-flies also 

 conveys the microbe of sleeping-sickness, an 

 even graver plea has been raised for the destruc- 

 tion of the buffalo and other big game. 

 Opinions on the subject differ considerably, 

 even among those qualified to write of it. 

 Selous regards the buffalo and tsetse-fly as 

 inseparable. Others, on the other hand, have 



