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THE AFRICAN BUFFALO | 229 
impales or knocks down its foe as it passes. The fact that it 
does not lower its head when about to strike not only makes the 
charge difficult to stop or turn, but also lessens the stalker’s 
chance of getting out of its way, as the beast is able to see 
where it is going, and see also any movement on the sportsman’s 
part. As buffaloes stand very low on their legs, a shot at the 
throat or chest is very difficult, unless there is time for the 
stalker to kneel or sit down, when he would be more on a level 
with and better able to get a shot at either of these spots. 
After a stalk and a successful shot every sportsman should 
avoid firing at the retreating herd, on the chance of bagging 
another by a fluke, unless he is prepared to follow up all the 
beasts that are wounded. Apart from the cruelty of this prac- 
tice, the fact of several wounded buffaloes being in the vicinity 
of a shooting ground, and the uncertainty of their whereabouts, 
is a source of great danger not only to the sportsman himself 
and his men, but to other men, sportsmen or otherwise, who 
come after him. When a buffalo is down, it should always be 
approached with the utmost caution, and on no account should 
the stalker go up to it without a heavy rifle in his hand, as 
there is no knowing what a buffalo is capable of, however far 
gone he may appear to be—so long as its side heaves, or it 
gives any other indication that life is not quite extinct. 
Should a buffalo after being wounded enter thick bush 
or other covert, it is a good plan (and one I always adopt 
myself) to wait for a quarter or half an hour before taking up 
the spoor, as the beast will be almost certain to lie down, and 
will not only become weak and stiff from the effects of the 
wound, more especially if a leg is damaged or broken, but its 
suspicions will be to a certain extent allayed. 
The African natives, whether professional hunters or only 
porters, &c., with their extraordinarily sharp sight, are, as a 
rule, so much quicker in detecting the slightest sign of a beast 
having passed, be it a minute speck of blood, a bruised blade 
of grass, or a fragment of freshly turned up earth, that I must 
advise the sportsman to let his gun-bearers take up the 
