VARIOUS. 73 



It may seem strange to some people that large game 

 sometimes require so many shots to bring them down. 

 The African game is the toughest of all. I have seen a 

 buffalo take fourteen shots before he fell, and then he 

 had succeeded in killing our best dog and maiming an- 

 other. It is very curious how some animals will drop 

 instantly to a shot, while others will receive shot after 

 shot, only giving a slight rock each time they are 

 struck. 



There is a popular fallacy that an animal shot through 

 the heart must drop dead on the spot. It is nothing of 

 the kind. I have seen animals shot through the heart 

 run for a considerable distance after getting the ball. 

 The only shots absolutely certain to stop an animal on 

 the spot are the shot through the brain or the shot which 

 breaks the spine. 



One evening I was returning to camp and had given 

 my rifle to Moyen to carry. We were passing through 

 a small thicket. I was smoking, and had given up all 

 thoughts of sport. I was going along in a sort of day 

 dream, and was, I distinctly remember, speculating as to 

 what news the mails had brought for me during my 

 absence from civilisation. I was rudely awakened from 

 torpor, for with a tremendous roar three lions sprang up 

 in front of me. The lioness jumped up at me and snap- 

 ped her jaws within a couple of feet of my chest, and 

 then bounded away after the others and disappeared. I 

 had unwittingly intruded upon a lioness and two large 

 cubs. I have no doubt they wished to avoid me, but 

 their proximity was unpleasant, and I received a severe 

 start. 



This unexpected rencontre puts me in mind of an in- 

 cident which occurred to me at the Unguevuma. I had 



