CHAPTER V 

 ADVENTURE WITH BUFFALO 



THE big-game hunter in search of excitement can be 

 recommended to go after the African buffalo. Its 

 natural craftiness and strength, and when wounded 

 its fierce vindictiveness, place it at the head of African 

 sporting animals. A most exciting adventure with a 

 buffalo is described by F. R. N. Findlay in his volume 

 on big-game shooting in Portuguese South-East Africa. 1 

 " Handing my small-bore Mauser to Jantje, one of the 

 natives, I shouldered the larger Mauser and set out, 

 accompanied by Prinsloo, Jantje, and another boy, 

 Galazi. We soon cut the spoor of a small herd of 

 buffalo, and followed it without much difficulty through 

 swamp, long grass, and small patches of reeds. After 

 carefully testing the direction of the wind by crushing 

 dry grass-blades in our hands and throwing their dust 

 up in the air, we entered a large and dense mass of 

 reeds. We had hardly advanced a dozen paces when 

 we heard a slight movement in front, and the next 

 moment there was a rush from almost all sides. The 

 reeds were too tall and dense for us to see more than 

 a few yards ahead, so we quickly retraced our steps, 

 and I clambered up a large ant-heap, which we had 

 1 See Bibliography, 4. 



