90 THE BUFFALO 



Then if ever must the great carnivora have 

 realised to the full their day of plenty, and the 

 antelopes, with the sad exceptions of the eland 

 and kudu, enjoyed a period of restful immunity 

 from pursuit which they have never experienced 

 either before or since. 



Only odd isolated corners here and there 

 escaped, in some cases unaccountably, the effects 

 of the scourge ; and now, little by little, especially 

 where due and proper protection is afforded them, 

 the buffaloes are increasing slowly but steadily. 

 This increase, still more real than apparent, is 

 found south of the Zambezi at various points, 

 but notably in Luabo, and in a minor degree in 

 certain parts of Cheringoma and the Shupanga 

 Forest; but, travelling through the Quelimane 

 district last year from the borders of Nyasaland 

 to the Indian Ocean, I saw abundant evidence 

 that in Mlanje, Lugella, and portions of the 

 Mlokwe districts, the buffaloes were getting once 

 more fairly numerous. Not that here they 

 suffered from rinderpest, as it is believed that 

 the Quelimane district as a whole largely, if not 

 wholly, escaped the pest, but probably through 

 the inactivity of former destructive agencies such 

 as the firearmed native hunter, — now happily 

 largely employed elsewhere, — to say nothing of 

 the European sportsman who used to find in 

 Quelimane a district where regulations were but 

 seldom obtruded. 



In Luabo I have seen of recent years herds 

 that must have numbered from one hundred to 

 over three hundred head, and these, as they sweep 



