1 1 o Great and Small Game of Africa 



upraised, gazing fixedly at the intruder upon its solitude, with eyes which 

 look sullen and gloomy beneath the massive horns which overshadow 

 them, has all the appearance of a savage and dangerous animal, though, as 

 a matter of fact, in the great majority of cases he is neither the one nor 

 the other, hut only ignorant and inquisitive, never having seen such a thing 

 as a man with hat and clothes on him before. A little hunting causes 

 buffalo bulls to give up this bold and truculent bearing, and they soon learn 

 to run off as soon as they can make out the figure of a man approaching 

 them. Nothing made of flesh and blood in South Africa is more tenacious 

 of life than a buffalo, though of course nothing can long survive a shot 

 through the upper part of the heart, or through the big blood-vessels of 

 both lungs. 



This latter is the better shot, I think, as the wounded animal can be so 

 easily tracked by the blood which will be plentifully thrown from the 

 mouth and nostrils. Should a buffalo, when fired at, drop instantly to the 

 shot, it is always unwise to approach him incautiously with an unloaded 

 rifle ; for, if he is only momentarily paralysed by the shot having grazed the 

 vertebral column in the neck or along the back, he may recover himself 

 and spring to his feet at any moment, and if he does so, he is pretty sure to 

 charge any one he may see close to him. When a buffalo rises from the 

 ground he gets on to his hind-feet first, like an ox, and this sometimes 

 gives one time to fire into his head or chest before he gets into a standing 

 position.: When dying, a buffalo nearly always gives vent several times to 

 a moaning bellow, which can be heard at a considerable distance, and when 

 once heard will never be forgotten. 



I once heard a buffalo calf, which had got separated from its mother, 

 calling very much like the calf of a domestic cow ; but as a rule buffaloes 

 are very silent animals. I have often listened for over an hour at a time to 

 large herds feeding at night within a few hundred yards of my camp, and 

 never heard any sound made but an occasional short grunt, though I have 



