THE BUSHBUCK 



after the buck. We found him later lying on his 

 face dead. The buck had driven its horns once 

 into his side and twice through the back. A Kafir 

 had his thigh laid open from above the knee to the 

 hip by a single side-stroke of a wounded Bushbuck. 

 As the animal dashed at him the man stepped aside, 

 and the instant the horn caught him he drove the 

 blade of his stabbing assegai into the buck behind 

 the shoulder through its heart. The stroke was a 

 magnificent one under such difficult and trying 

 circumstances. 



In a small glade in a forest in Natal I stumbled 

 over an adult Python {Python seba) and fell flat 

 upon it. Turning a few rapid somersaults I got 

 out of reach of its coils and scrambled to my feet. 

 There was no occasion, however, for alarm, for the 

 great snake, which I subsequently found to be 

 1 8 feet in length, was in a dying condition. Its 

 back had been broken, and its body was punctured 

 and ripped in several places. Near-by lay the dead 

 body of a Bushbuck ram. On examination it was 

 apparent that it had been strangled by the Python. 

 On one of its fore-legs there were marks of the 

 reptiles recurved teeth, and on close inspection 

 several teeth were found sticking in the skin. Ex- 

 amining the ground around, I noticed the spoor of 

 a Bushbuck doe and that of a fawn which seemed 

 to be about six months old. The whole scene was 

 made clear : the Python had evidently seized the 

 fawn, and its cries, and perhaps those of its mother, 



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