MY FIRST BUFFALO. 
189 
astonishment and dismay, was soon out of sight. I 
was about to take up his tracks, when, by a happy 
glance towards the mimosa, I saw another buffalo 
standing on the exact spot where I had first noticed 
the one I had just wounded ; so, rushing back and 
seizing my eight-bore from the gun-bearer, who had 
reloaded it, I was just in time to put in a couple 
of shots as the beast bolted out after his mate. He 
fell over at once, badly disabled, and as he lay 
glaring at me, with his head well up, I gave him a 
finishing shot in the neck from my 577° rifle. 
Before I had gone much farther I espied my first 
quarry lying down, but on my approach to within fifty 
yards he rose slowly, and facing me, looked exceedingly 
vicious. I doubt, however, if the poor brute had suffi¬ 
cient strength left in him to charge, though I made a 
cautious circuit until I got a favourable shot, which 
put an immediate end to his existence. Both prizes 
turned out to be fine bulls, but unfortunately the horns 
of one had been so much worn down that the head was 
valueless as a trophy. The other was a magnificent 
specimen, the horns being thirty-six inches inside the 
widest bend, though, owing to their beautiful inward 
curves, the tip to tip measurement was only twenty-one 
inches, while the frontlet was remarkably deep and 
massive. These were the first buffalo I killed, and I 
was much impressed with their noble proportions. 
The buffalo here stand about sixteen hands, and 
are about half as heavy again as an ordinary English 
bullock. The older bulls are almost hairless (though 
