5IO BUFF AIDES' GUARDIAN SPIRITS. 



wounded, but our appearance at that moment caused 

 them to take flight, and this, with the goring being con- 

 tinued a little, gave my men the impression that they 

 were helping away their woundel 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 evythrorhynchus, Smith), 

 which act the part of guardian spirits to the animals. 

 When the buffalo is quietly feeding, this bird may be seen 

 hopping on the ground picking up food, or sitting on its 

 back ridding it of the insects with which their skins are 

 sometimes infested. The sight of the bird being much 

 more acute than that of the buffalo, it is soon alarmed by 

 the approach of any danger, and, flying up, the buffaloes 

 instantly raise their heads to discover the cause, which 

 has led to the sudden flight of their guardian. They 

 sometimes accompany the buffaloes in their flight on the 

 wing, at other times they sit as above described. 



Another African bird, namely, the Buphaga Afvicana, 

 attends the rhinoceros for a similar purpose. It is called 

 " kala " in the language of the Bechuanas : when these 

 people wish to express their dependence upon another, 

 they address him as " my rhinoceros,' ' as if they were the 

 birds. The satellites of a chief go by the same name. 

 This bird cannot be said to depend entirely on the insects 

 on that animal, for its hard hairless skin is a protection 

 against all except a few spotted ticks ; but it seems to be 

 attached to the beast, somewhat as the domestic dog is to 

 man ; and while the buffalo is alarmed by the sudden 

 flying up of its sentinel, the rhinoceros, not having keen 

 sight, but an acute ear, is warned by the cry of its associate, 

 the Buphaga Africana. The rhinoceros feeds by night, 

 and its sentinel is frequently heard in the morning uttering 

 its well-known call, as it searches for its bulky companion. 



