THE AFRICAN BUFFALO. 5*29 



him, with his hoofs, at the same time crushing him with his 

 knees, and tearing to pieces and mangling the whole body with 

 his horns and teeth, and stripping off the skin by licking it with 

 his tongue. This, however, he does not do all at once, but 

 at intervals, going away between whiles to some distance." 

 The same authority observes that balls to kill the buffalo 

 should be alloyed with tin, to render them harder, of a good 

 size, and not less than two ounces and a quarter in weight. 

 Balls made of lead only will seldom penetrate to those parts 

 where they are likely to prove mortal ; and even when alloyed 

 with tin,, he has found them shivered into pieces against the 

 bones in the internal parts, or very much flattened. 



Probably owing to their bulk and the shortness of their legs, 

 buffaloes do not willingly venture to ascend the hills, even when 

 in hot pursuit of the objects of their anger. Their most frequent 

 haunts are the ravines among the hills, particularly where there 

 are pools or marshes, in the mire of which they wallow during 

 a great part of the day. In the closer confines of the jungle, 

 the herds consist of eight, ten, or twelve individuals ; but in 

 more open places they are seen in much greater numbers. In 

 Caffraria, Thunberg saw a herd consisting of five or six hundred. 



The buffalo is most ferocious when its offspring is in danger. 

 Sparrman saw a buffalo calf that had been captured soon after 

 birth, as tame as the ordinary domestic calves among which 

 it was grazing j and thinks that buffaloes might be broken 

 in to the yoke, if the experiment w r ere commenced while they 

 are young calves. 



The flesh of this species is said to be superior to that of 

 the common domestic buffalo. Sparrman reports that, although 

 it is coarse and not very fat, it is full of gravy, and has a high 

 and not unpleasant flavour. The Hottentots cut it into steaks, 

 which they smoke and merely half broil over the embers of a 

 fire 3 and they frequently eat their meat when in the first 

 stage of putrefaction, without bread or any other addition. The 

 broiled marrow-bones they consider the greatest delicacy. Shoes, 

 harness, thongs, and other articles are made of the hide, which, 



2 M 



