

MY FIVE BUFFALOES. IQ 



honest John ever realised the meaning conveyed to men 

 of feebler organisation by the word " shock". 



Having engaged all our carriers we left our waggons 

 and oxen in charge of the Chief of Jozanns, and march- 

 ing down into the fly country pitched our camp at a 

 small rivulet named the Gumban, about half a day's 

 journey from Jozanns. Our plan of operations was this 

 to send native hunters in all directions to visit the 

 various drinking places, find the large troops of buffaloes 

 and break them up. There was one troop in particular, 

 the natives called it " umpehlu 'tuli " or " the dust 

 raiser". It consisted of several thousand buffaloes. 



During the winter season the buffaloes got broken up 

 by the parties of hunters, but in the summer they used 

 to reassemble and form immense troops. It was our 

 especial desire to discover and scatter the umpehlu, for 

 it meant certain sport to us as soon as they were broken. 



Gumban was our central camp, from which we made 

 excursions in all directions for two or three days at a 

 time, returning thither for stores and ammunition. For 

 the first week we had little or no sport, only getting an 

 odd bull here and there, and shooting occasional quagga, 

 waterbuck, and koodoo. Indeed, I became rather de- 

 spondent, and began to imagine that the royal game must 

 have left the country. Day after day when our hunters 

 came in we eagerly questioned them, always receiving 

 the same reply : " Plenty of old spoor, they are some- 

 where in the country, and if the Fates are propitious we 

 shall find them at last ". 



A Offre has the firmest faith in luck ; in other words, 

 that good or ill fortune is controlled by the Fates. If 

 he is fortunate he puts it down at once to the Fates being 

 in a good humour if the opposite, to the Fates having 



