584 WOUNDED BUFFALO ASSISTED. 



to be the cause of the elevation of this ridge, the direction in 

 which the strike of the rocks trends to the N.N.E. may indicate 

 that the same geological structure prevails farther north, and two 

 or three lakes which exist in that direction may Ibe of exactly the 

 same nature with Lake Ngami, having been diminished to their 

 present size by the same kind of agency as that which formed the 

 falls of Victoria. 



We met an elephant on the Kalomo which had no tusks. This 

 is as rare a thing in Africa as it is to find them with tusks in 

 Ceylon. As soon as she saw us she made off. It is remarkable 

 to see the fear of man operating even on this huge beast. Buffa- 

 loes abound, and we see large herds of them feeding in all direc- 

 tions by day. When much disturbed by man they retire into the 

 densest parts of the forest, and feed by night only. We secured 

 a fine large bull by crawling close to a herd. When shot, he fell 

 down, and the rest, not seeing their enemy, gazed about, won- 

 dering where the danger lay. The others came back to it, and, 

 when we showed ourselves, much to the amusement of my com- 

 panions, they lifted him up with their horns, and, half supporting 

 him in the crowd, bore him away. All these wild animals usu- 

 ally gore a wounded companion, and expel him from the herd ; 

 even zebras bite and kick an unfortunate or a diseased one. It 

 is intended by this instinct that none but the perfect and healthy 

 ones should propagate the species. In this case they manifested 

 their usual propensity to gore the wounded, but our appearance 

 at that moment caused them to take flight, and this, with the gor- 

 ing being continued a little, gave my men the impression that 

 they were helping away their wounded companion. He was shot 

 between the fourth and fifth ribs ; the ball passed through both 

 lungs and a rib on the opposite side, and then lodged beneath the 

 skin. But, though it was eight ounces in weight, yet he ran off 

 some distance, and was secured only by the people driving him 

 into a pool of water and killing him there with their spears. 

 The herd ran away in the direction of our camp, and then came 

 bounding past us again. We took refuge on a large ant-hill, and 

 as they rushed by us at full gallop I had a good opportunity of 

 seeing that the leader of a herd of about sixty was an old cow ; 

 all the others allowed her a full half-length in their front. On 

 her withers sat about twenty buffalo-birds {Textor erythrorhyn- 



