Chap. VIII. TWO BUFFALOES SHOT. 215 



browned by free exposure to the sun for years than Dr. 

 Livingstone and his family were by passing once from 

 Kuruman to Cape Town, a journey which occupied only 

 a couple of months. 



We encamped on the Kalomo, on the 1st of October, 

 and found the weather very much warmer than when we 

 crossed this stream in August. At 3 p.m. the thermometer, 

 four feet from the ground, was 101° in the shade ; the wet 

 bulb only 61° : a difference of 40°. Yet, notwithstanding 

 this extreme dryness of the atmosphere, without a drop of 

 rain having fallen for months, and scarcely any dew, many 

 of the shrubs and trees were putting forth fresh leaves of 

 various hues, while others made a profuse display of lovely 

 blossoms. 



Two old and very savage buffaloes were shot for our 

 companions on the 3rd October. Our Volunteers may feel 

 an interest in knowing that balls sometimes have but 

 little effect : one buffalo fell, on receiving a Jacob's shell ; 

 it was hit again twice, and lost a large amount of blood ; 

 and yet it sprang up, and charged a native, who, by great 

 agility, had just time to climb a tree, before the maddened 

 beast struck it, battering-ram fashion, hard enough almost 

 to have split both head and tree. It paused a few seconds 

 — drew back several paces — glared up at the man — and 

 then dashed at the tree again and again, as if determined 

 to shake him out of it. It took two more Jacob's shells, 

 and five other large solid rifle-balls to finish the beast at 

 last. These old surly buffaloes had been wandering about 

 in a sort of miserable fellowship ; their skins were diseased 

 and scabby, as if leprous, and their horns atrophied or 

 worn down to stumps — the first was killed outright, by 

 one Jacob's shell, the second died hard. There is so much 

 difference in the tenacity of life in wounded animals of 

 the same species, that the inquiry is suggested where the 

 seat of life can be? We have seen a buffalo live lono- 



