94 THE BUFFALO 



exercise of cool judgment and resolution, or he 

 will assuredly be killed. I have found in my own 

 experience that, in open country, the charging 

 buffalo must be quietly awaited, and as he ap- 

 proaches, his nose thrust forward and his chest 

 exposed, a bullet from a heavy cordite rifle will 

 frequently stop him. A raking shot through the 

 centre of the chest has twice saved me from po- 

 sitions of some uncertainty, and I can strongly 

 recommend it to sportsmen finding themselves in 

 similar perilous case. 



On one occasion I was hunting on the great 

 plains south of the Inyamissengo or Kongoni 

 mouth of the Zambezi, and in the district of East 

 Luabo, when I encountered a large herd of these 

 animals. These plains are the sources of several 

 rivers and streams, among others of the Mungari, 

 Mupa, and Gadzi. They are, as a whole, bare of 

 all but the shortest and most stunted of grasses, 

 and the eye can follow the circle of the horizon 

 nearly all the way round, save for curious island- 

 like patches of trees, isolated forest-patches which 

 form the cool, daily resting-places of the many 

 wild animals which here abound. I had followed 

 upon the tracks of the herd for several hours, 

 and at length came within sight of them. They 

 had halted upon an expanse of high, dusty 

 ground well out in the open, and, whilst some 

 stood about in groups, their tufted tails flicking 

 ceaselessly at the clouds of flies which are their 

 constant companions, others lay quietly resting, 

 doubtless lazily chewing the cud after their man- 

 ner, and, as I reconnoitred them through a pair of 



