Buffalo Hunt on Mt. Elgon. 
Camp on Eastern Slopes of Mt. Elgon, B. 
E. A., July 29 . — Editor Forest and Stream: 
The interest in the following account of a buf¬ 
falo hunt on Mt. Elgon lies principally in the 
fact that though for some time past buffalo 
have been known to inhabit the mountains, I 
do not think they have been seen there by white 
men, and certainly they have not been shot be¬ 
fore. I make this statement on the authority 
of my guide, A. C. Hoey, who is probably bet¬ 
ter acquainted with this part of the country 
than anyone else, since it is his favorite hunt¬ 
ing ground for elephants. 
We have been camped here some time trying 
to get a good pair of tusks, but so far have not 
been lucky. Two days ago, while looking over 
the country from one of our favorite lookouts 
with his glasses, Hoey picked up three buffalo 
feeding at a distance of a couple of miles. We 
at once decided to make a trial for them. Not¬ 
ing carefully the place where they were, we 
struck across the rolling hills and in an hour 
were not far from the hillside where we had 
seen them. 
As we crossed the stream at the bottom of 
Ihe ravine, we came on fresh elephant spoor. 
Here we left our mules and continued on foot. 
The crossing was nasty, with high rank grass 
and ferns, and much tangled underbrush. It 
w'ould not have been a pleasant place to meet 
the elephant, but Hoey pointed out that the 
water in their footprints was clear, showing 
that they were at least an hour or so ahead, 
as the mud had had time to settle. On cross¬ 
ing, we swung off to our right to get to 
leeward and went up the hill. We stalked care¬ 
fully toward the spot where they were last seen, 
and climbing on a high rock could see the horns 
of a buffalo cow just showing through the long 
grass. The buffalo birds were flying about, 
alighting and rising just over the crest of a 
little hill, so we knew the herd must be there. 
While studying how to make a better approach, 
a movement two hundred yards on our left 
attracted our attention. Supposing it to be the 
herd, we started in that direction, but stopped 
when we saw five cow elephants. They did not 
see us, but went leisurely on, and swinging 
off to the right passed over the crest of the 
hill. • As it was impossible to get nearer the 
buffalo without their seeing us, Hoey now sug¬ 
gested sending some men to make a wide circle 
and come down the wind on them, hoping they 
would break back past us. The plan succeeded 
perfectly, and in about half an hour we had 
the pleasure of seeing the herd, about a dozen 
in number, quartering along the opposite hill¬ 
side 150 yards away. 
They moved at a lumbering gallop through 
the long grass, which nearly hid them. I could 
not fire at once, as they were all in a bunch, 
and I was afraid of hitting one of the cows. 
As they began to string out. Hoey said : ‘"That’s 
the bull, the fourth from the end.” I fired im¬ 
mediately, but the bull passed behind a bush and 
I inflicted only a slight wound. I aimed again 
and a cow came up between us, 'so T had to fire 
over the cow's back, as they were then about 
200 yards off. My bullet took the bull in the 
spine, paralyzing it, and he only went a few 
yards and dropped. 
The recoil from the heavy .450 rifle knocked 
"there's the grub, children.” 
WHEN THE HORSE STARTED UP SHE JUMPED. 
me off my rather insecure perch on the rock. 
As I fell Sangigi, my first gunbearer, took the 
rifle from me, and Sarcita, my second gun- 
bearer. picked me up. As I could not see the 
effect of my shot, I called to Hoey to shoot 
and he fired two shots through the grass, effect¬ 
ually quieting the bull. By the time I was on 
my feet Sangigi had reloaded my rifle and we 
started after him. When we had come within 
twenty-five yards the bull managed to get on 
his feet, and Hoey called out: "Look out; shoot 
quick! He’s going to charge!” We both fired, 
my shot taking him through the skull a little 
below the eyes and Hoey shooting him through 
the chest. He dropped again and a shot from 
my light rifle finished him. 
He was a very old bull, but did not carry a 
very large head. It was 39% inches across the 
bow, 31%. from tip to tip and \2 l / 2 across the 
base of the horns. Hoey told me that the 
natives say that the Mount Elgon buffalo are 
rather smaller than the ordinary buffalo. We 
hoped we were going to get a new species, but 
Hoey could not see that it differed from others 
that he has shot elsewhere. We at once sent 
down to camp for twenty-five porters to carry 
in the head, skin and meat. The porters are 
very fond of buffalo meat and the skin makes 
excellent sandals, as it is thick, but pliable and 
wears well. 
While waiting, the gunbearers skinned and 
cut up the meat and started a fire. It was rain¬ 
ing heavily. We cut out one of the marrow 
bones, roasted it in the fire and made our lunch 
of buffalo marrow on toast and roast buffalo 
meat cooked on skewers over the fire. It was 
excellent meat, but of course rather tough, be¬ 
cause it was so fresh. Our gunbearers stuck 
great wooden skewers full of the tidbits around 
the fire, cutting off portions as they cooked, and 
turning the raw places to the fire again. The 
amount they ate was incredible. Finally the 
porters came up and the head arrived in camp 
about sunset. As I write I can see festoons 
of the meat drying on all the small trees near 
the porters’ tents. I have omitted to say that 
at the sound of our first shots a herd of seven 
elephants came out of the ravine below us and 
went slowly away. All cows again, or I might 
have had the rather unique experience of shoot¬ 
ing elephant and buffalo from the same stand. 
Yesterday we had rather an exciting time. 
We were traveling through some very bad coun¬ 
try, a mass of high, rank tangled grass and 
small trees, when we came on very fresh rhino 
sign. Hoey remarked that he would not care 
to meet the animal just then, as we would prob¬ 
ably lose a mule or a man or two. We got 
away as quietly as possible and had just come 
out of the worst of the tangle when we heard 
the gunbearers, syces and carriers shout and 
looked back to see them come tumbling down 
the hill after us calling out, "Kifaro” (rhino). 
Both of Hoey’s gunbearers ran, and as I jumped 
off my mule I could hear him shouting for his 
gun. I am afraid that at first I thought more 
of self-preservation than of anything else, for 
directly behind me and not twenty yards away 
the porters and gunbearers were running and 
shouting, and presumably the rhino was_ behind 
them. 
I ran to one side about fifty feet and just 
then Sangigi appeared with my .450. I felt 
safer then and tried to see where the disturber 
of the peace was. I could see the tall grass 
