58 TALES OF A NOMAD. 



should have deemed impossible for a creature of his 

 build and weight He went head over heels, and rolled 

 over and over with such swiftness that when I had 

 reloaded I could hardly cover him surely enough to 

 give the coup de grace in the way it should be given. 

 Just as I was pressing the trigger, his struggles ceased, 

 and he fell dead. His capers reminded one somewhat of 

 a rabbit which has been half stunned by a single grain 

 of shot somewhere about the head. The large cow was 

 stone dead. 



I left MatafTayen to superintend the skinning and the 

 extraction of the teeth. The hide of the sea-cow is very 

 valuable for sjamboks. It is peeled off him in long strips 

 about a foot wide, running from neck to croup, and the 

 bacon is peeled off with the hide, that is to say adhering 

 to it. Afterwards the bacon is separated from the hide, 

 and the hide is then cut into strips and pegged out to dry. 



The hide is very thick and firm along the upper 

 portion of his body, so much so that a soft lead ball 

 propelled by two and a half drachms of powder from a 

 Snider-Enfield rifle will not penetrate, but on the legs 

 and belly it is not much thicker than that of an elephant. 



I left the river and made a detoiir on my way back to 

 camp. The dogs were running loose. Four-and-six 

 went into a thicket and found an old buffalo bull, but 

 was at once fiercely charged. He came out with his 

 back arched and his tail clapped between his legs, from 

 which I inferred that the buffalo had been both uncivil 

 and exceptionally active in his attentions. The buffalo 

 broke away on the other side of the thicket, and I did 

 not get a shot. 



As I neared the camp, I came across two elands going 

 down to drink, and making a careful stalk got within 



