CREATURES OF THE WILDERNESS 211 



gone so far as to declare that these flies, like 

 mosquitoes, are only bloodsuckers by prefer- 

 ence, and that, when unable to drink blood, 

 they readily feed on vegetable juices. For this 

 remarkable assertion there seems to be too 

 little evidence, but there is, at any rate, some 

 reason for thinking that these water-haunting 

 insects may exist on the blood of cormorants, 

 crocodiles, and other neighbours that share 

 their haunts, without being in any way depen- 

 dent on the buffalo. If this can be demon- 

 strated, then it is obviously futile to hope that 

 the extermination of the buffalo would have 

 the desired effect of freeing Africa from the 

 tsetse-fly, and, short of such result, the total 

 suppression of so fine an animal would be a 

 matter for regret. 



A story is told of an encounter between a 

 Belgian sportsman in the Congo and a solitary 

 old male buffalo, which reads less like a hunt- 

 ing incident than an episode from the Spanish 

 bull-ring. It seems that the Belgian had fired 

 at the buffalo and missed it. His native carrier 

 chose that particular moment (not a bad one) 

 to bolt with the other gun and all the cartridges. 

 The bull chose the same moment to charge. 

 Most men of ordinary temperament would 

 have made for the nearest tree ; but the brave 

 Belgian, scorning to turn his back on the foe, 

 preferred to catch the buffalo by the horns and 



