vin VICIOUS ELEPHANTS AND A BUFFALO 87 



down from one of the gardens in which he had been 

 sampling the tobacco leaves he loved so well, and 

 managed after a lively piece of hunting to kill him 

 but I was amply repaid for my trouble by his 

 magnificent tusks, one of which weighed 113 Ibs., 

 and the other 104. 



When travelling along the Mbarangandu River, 

 on one occasion, I had an exciting experience with 

 a buffalo. I had stopped to have lunch and await 

 my carriers, who had been following along with my 

 baggage, about half a mile behind ; and they had 

 hardly overtaken us, when we heard a succession of 

 terrified yells some distance in their rear. My 

 trackers and men at once began to make all sorts 

 of conjectures as to what had occurred, some saying 

 a snake had bitten one of the carriers who had 

 lagged behind, others attributing the trouble 

 to an elephant, or a buffalo, or a lion, or a leopard, 

 but feeling that this was rather an unprofitable 

 occupation, I ran in the direction whence the shouts 

 had come, sprinting a distance of about seven 

 hundred yards through the soft dry sand of the 

 river bed, carrying with me my heavy double rifle, 

 weighing thirteen pounds. By this time, all was 

 silence, and fearing that the affair, whatever it might 

 be, had had a serious ending, I plunged, almost 

 dropping with exhaustion, into the long grass in the 

 hope of clearing up the mystery of that succession of 



