THE BUFFALO 91 



in course of time back westward to Shupanga and 

 Inyaminga, will no doubt enable these districts 

 to present to the hunter's eye something dimly 

 recalling the appearance which they must have 

 presented in the far-off days of the early nineties. 



At a distance of a few hundred yards, seen in 

 the open plain, a herd of buffaloes looks ven' like 

 an assemblage of enormous dusky cattle — an illu- 

 sion greatly assisted by the fact that they have 

 all the habits of their domestic brethren. I do 

 not know what a full-grown male may weigh, but 

 it seems to me that half a ton may form a moderate 

 estimate. Of dark, slaty grey, the skin of buffa- 

 loes, except in the cases of the yoimger animals, 

 usually possesses scarcely any hairy coat at aU. 

 The older he grows the less hair he exhibits, untU, 

 in the case of a really aged animal, practically no 

 hirsute covering is discernible. The head is very 

 large, and armed with magnificent, majestic, 

 wide-based horns which curve outward and down- 

 ward from the centre of the forehead, and then 

 form a powerful upward hook. Those carried by 

 females are much smaller than male horns ; they 

 do not meet in the centre of the forehead, nor have 

 they the massive, rugged wide base which lends 

 him such an air of power and dignity. A bluff 

 squareness of jowl, which one finds but rarely 

 reproduced in illustrations of this interesting form, 

 also indicates a stubborn resolution difficult to 

 associate with any "other family, if, perhaps, we 

 except the larger carnivora. 



The cows calve in the autumn from March to 

 jVIay, producing only one calf at a birth. These 



