The Congo Buffalo i 23 



open scattered bush to some other gully, in the deep recesses of which 

 they lie up for the remainder of the day. With the exception of one 

 which I kicked up from under the shade of a big Cottonwood tree, I have 

 never seen one, nor have I seen fresh tracks of any, in the afternoon or 

 evening, though it cannot be therefore argued as a certainty that they do 

 not wander at all at that hour of the day. 



Throughout West Africa the "bushcow" has a great reputation for 

 ferocity, a reputation which I believe to be due more to the imagination of 

 the native than to any real danger which is incurred in hunting these animals. 

 The bull referred to above as being kicked up late in the day, and upon 

 which I almost stepped, bolted at once, although it had a calf with it at 

 the time. I may have startled it too considerably to admit of its doing 

 anything else. It, however, pulled up within 200 yards, and, standing 

 broadside on, turned its head towards me as I sprinted after it, and very 

 possibly its halt denoted a change of tactics and a charge, when a bullet 

 planted an inch above the heart sent it flying at full gallop straight away 

 from me. The beast charged straight through a bush fire which was 

 licking up the dried grass 200 or 300 yards farther on, and travelled 

 altogether I-J miles before it rolled over in a patch of dense palm jungle by 

 the side of a steep dried-up nullah. The calf, which was by its side when 

 kicked up, was about half grown, and, curiously enough, no sign of a cow 

 was to be seen in the neighbourhood. She may have been bagged by a 

 native hunter a few days previously, but I think I should have heard of it 

 had it been so. 



The slaying of a " bona " by the native is considered a great feat, men 

 occasionally being met with who are known solely as " bushcow killers." 

 The mysterious ways of the creature, and the consequent difficulty of ever 

 getting sight of one or bagging one, have rendered it almost a fetish in the 

 eyes of the native. When a man kills a bull he must retire into his house 

 and remain there for ten days at the least, whilst all his relatives make "ju-ju " 



