OXEN. 201 
Drummond gives the following account of one such combat which he had the 
good fortune to witness :—* On looking through the edge of the last thicket which 
concealed them I saw two buftalo bulls standing facing each other with lowered 
heads, and, as I sat down to watch, they rushed together with all their force, 
producing the loud crash I had before heard. Once their horns were interlocked, 
they kept them so, their straining quarters telling that each was doing his best to 
force the other backwards. Several long white marks on their necks showed 
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SHORT-HORNED BUFFALO, SIERRA LEONE VARIETY (zy Nat. size). 
where they had received scratches, and blood dripping down the withers of the 
one next me proved that he had received a more severe wound. It was a 
magnificent sight to see the enormous animals, every muscle at its fullest tension, 
striving for the mastery. Soon one, a very large and old bull, began to yield a 
little, going backwards step by step, but at last, as if determined to conquer or die, 
it dropped on its knees. The other, disengaging his horns for a second, so as to 
gain an impetus, again rushed at him, but did not strike him on the forehead, but 
on the neck, under the hump, and I could see that with a twist of his horns he 
inflicted a severe wound.” Instead, however, of following up his advantage, this 
