THE AFRICAN BUFFALO. 
239 
Le Vaillant, Sparrman, or Daniel. All travellers 
have agreeil in the danger of wounding, or intruding 
incautiously upon the liaunts of the buffalo; he is 
easily irritated, and rushes towards his object with 
blind fury, bearing down all before him ; he possesses 
also great activity, and in some situations consider- 
able swiftness ; and in an attack upon a herd, a 
place of safe retreat is generally looked for before 
commencing. They are killed in pitfalls, like much 
of the larger game, but the Dutch colonist or Euro- 
pean makes use of the rifle alone, while the Hotten- 
tot prefers following this chase on foot, being more 
active then the animal in seeking a retreat from his 
pursuit. Mr Pringle relates the following incident 
of a buffalo bunt, which we extract, as characteristic 
of the animal and the sport. 
“ A party of boors had gone out to hunt a herd 
of Buffaloes, which w'ere grazing on a piece of marshy 
ground, interspersed with groves of yellow wood and 
mimosa trees, on the very spot where the village of 
Somerset is now built. As they could not conve- 
niently get within shot of the game without crossing 
a part of the valei or march, which did not afford a 
safe passage for horses, they agreed to leave their 
steeds in charge of their Hottentots, and to advance 
on foot, thinking that if any of the buffaloes should 
turn upon them, it would be easy to escape by re- 
treating across the quagmire, which, though passable 
for man, would not support the weight of a heavy 
quadruped, They advanced accordingly, and under 
