holds its antagonist down upon the ground, whilst with its feet it tramples him to death. I heard of an instance on the Limpopo, where a white man and three negroes were killed, and a fourth negro much injured, all by a single buffalo bull.
The buffaloes of which we were in pursuit came to a standstill after about 200 yards; the leader of them turned, and seemed to be scenting us out; then again they started off, but after a very short run the one that was wounded fell behind and appeared anxious to conceal itself under the shelter of atree. I made my servants approach and attract its attention, while I crept up unobserved till I was within proper range, when I immediately discharged both my barrels. The first shot entered the breast, the second hit the shoulder; and tottering forwards on to the open ground, the animal almost directly fell upon its knees. With shouts of glee my servants ran up to the spot, but on discovering that the buffalo was not dead, they were careful not to go too near, nor would I allow them to touch it until I had contrived to get sufficiently close to send a bullet behind its ear, when it fell back powerless, and its limbs were stiffened in death. The delight of my negroes was unbounded; they danced round the carcase for a few minutes, and then set to work to light a fire, at which they roasted the best part of the heart, and cutting off one of the feet toasted the marrow.
I went home with one of the men in the evening, leaving the rest to dismember the buffalo’s body. There were many lion-tracks about, and as they cut up the joints they were obliged to hang them up out of the lions’ reach. In the midst of their
