HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
265 
in all respects like the cattle he had been accustomed to 
see in England, except that their horns are somewhat 
shorter, and their bellowings deeper. They are without 
the hunch peculiar to the buffalo or tame cattle of 
Madagascar, and, when wounded or annoyed, are extremely 
ferocious and terrible in their attacks upon their enemies. 
The darkest nights are always made choice of for this kind 
of hunting. “ The people permitted me,” says Drury, “ at my 
request, but first ordered me to wash myself as they did, in 
order that we might be entirely free from the smell of 
smoke, as well as of all other effluvia. I could have taken 
two lances, according to custom, but they obliged me to 
leave one behind, lest two together might rattle in my 
hand. 
The cattle feed only in the night, and, if all these precau¬ 
tions were not taken, could never be surprised, for they are 
always on their guard, snorting with their noses, and listen¬ 
ing as if for the approach of an enemy; we could hear them 
roar and bellow a great way off, by which we knew where 
they were, and were always obliged to go round till they 
were nearly to windward of us, otherwise they would have 
scented us. As soon as we had got the wind and cattle 
right ahead, and were within hearing, we walked with all 
the circumspection imaginable, cropping the tops of the 
grass with our hands as close as possible, to mimic, as well 
as we could, the noise made by a cow in grazing. The 
moment they heard us, they were all silent, not one of 
them bellowed or grazed, but seemed to listen with the 
utmost attention, which when we perceived, we all stood 
still likewise, without a whisper, while three or four, best 
acquainted with the art, continued cropping the grass. 
When the cattle had listened till, as we imagined, they 
took us for some of their own species, they returned to 
