194 AFFLICTIONS OF BEASTS. Chap. IX. 



dant ; herds of elephants and buffaloes came down to the river 

 in the night, but were a long way off by daylight. They soon 

 adopt this habit in places where they are hunted. 



The plains we travel over are constantly varying in 

 breadth, according as the furrowed and wooded hills approach 

 or recede from the river. On the southern side we see the 

 lull Bungwe, and the long, level, wooded ridge ISTyangombe, 

 the first of a series bending from the S. E. to the N.W. past 

 the Zambesi. We shot an old pallah on the 16th, and 

 found that the poor animal had been visited with more 

 than the usual share of animal afflictions. He was stoner 

 blind in both eyes, had several tumours, and a broken 

 leg, which showed no symptoms of ever having begun to 

 heal. Wild animals sometimes suffer a great deal from 

 disease, and wearily drag on a miserable existence before 

 relieved of it by some ravenous beast. Once we drove off 

 a maneless lion and lioness from a dead buffalo, which had 

 been in the last stage of a decline. They had watched him 

 staggering to the river to quench his thirst, and sprang 

 on him as he was crawling up the bank. One had caught him 

 by the throat, and the other by his high projecting backbone, 

 which was broken by the lion's powerful fangs. The struggle, 

 if any, must have been short. They had only eaten the 

 intestines when we frightened them off. It is curious that this 

 is the part that wild animals always begin with, and that 

 it is also the first choice of our men. Were it not a wise 

 arrangement that only the strongest males should continue 

 the breed, one could hardly help pitying the solitary buffalo 

 expelled from the herd for some physical blemish, or on account 

 of the weakness of approaching old age. Banished from the 

 softening influences of female society, he naturally becomes 

 morose and savage ; the necessary watchfulness against enemies 



