St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-02-13
MY FIRST BUFFALO.
Story Of Adventure In the Kongo
Country With STANLEY.

E. j. Glave in Pittsburg Dispatch.
When, at the age of nineteen, was
left by Stanley In command of Kongo
garrison at Lukolelo, far away in the
heart of Africa, the natives living in the
neighborhood at once instituted an
elaborate examination of myself and my
belongings. Rifle, revolver, watch,
compass, etc, were mysterious imple-
ments which they had never seen before.
and, personally, was exceedingly odd,
and unlike anything they had ever en-
cOuntered. | was white, spoke strange
tongue, and, according to their ideas of
attire, wore sufficient clothing for
whole tribe.
This revealed to me the necessity of
my distinguishing myself in some way
in order to obtain the regard of my
neighbors by proofs of my superiority
over them. | felt that my rifle present
ed the best means of earning reputa
tion-its loud ''ping'' interested and
awed my dusky friends, and | gave
them most exaggerated accounts of Its
deadly powers, how with one shot l
could bring to his knees the biggest
elephant that ever rOamed the forest, or
with the same amount of ammunition
Hence the plunging of an angry hippo
potamus. AS matter of fact, at that
time i knew but very little about
the use of a rifle, and was ignorant of
the dangers of big game hunting. L
took it for granted that my rifle was
accurately sighted, and | fOoliShly i'm
agined that l could hit an animal i'll the
head or heart, or any other part of the
body decided upon.
The iungles around my station were
RI trno IyC nf
animals, large and small. In few days
time an excited villager rushed into my
camp and gasped out the news that
big buffalo had taken possession Of his
wfe's plantation and threatened to de
stroy all her crops. My duSky visitor
impored me to go and kill the beast. At
that time | was not acquainted with the
hasty temperament and revengeful dis
position of such an animal, so L
promptly accepted. AS l tramped off
in the woods a crowd of hungry natives
followed in my wake, but in spite of
their being armed with knives and
spears, they all climbed up into treeS,in
order to see from safe quarters. Even
the man who had invited me to under
take this contest deserted me when we
arrived in the vicinity of the game.
| crept along stealthily through the
long grass in the direction pointed out,
aud very soon [ could see, just little
ahead of me, the shaggy old buffalo
leisurely cropping off the tender leaves
in peanut patch; as l cautiously lev
eled my rifle above the grass, the great
brute, about thirty yards away, caught
sight of me; he stretched out his neck,
switched his tail, threw forward his
ears, and glared at me in such threat
enng manner that | at once lost conf
deuce in myself as a slayer of big game.
MY previous calculations with regard
to this shooting question had not been
carried on under such formidable
conditions. However, my reputation
was at stake, so, with an unsteady aim,
| pointed my weapon Tor a spot
behind the shoulder and fired. The re-
port of my rifle was answered by a
shout OF delight from the natives as the
buffalo staggered for a few moments,
then fell heavily to the ground dead.
[ was commencing to congratulate my
self on being first-class shot when [
noticed that my ball had entered the
brute's brain two feet from the mark L
had aimed at! This, however, was a
secret which l decided to keep to my
self.
Atthe Drute's death my dusky friends,
who had witnessed the proceedings
from the tree tops, clambered hastily
to the ground, and very soon had cut off
every ounce of flesh. After an hours
work there remained nothing OF the
animal but a little pile of bones and
horns, and a good-humored procession
of savages tramped brislly back to the
village, smacking their thick lips i'll an
ticipation of a banquet of buffalo meat,
SteWed and roasted.
| took the opportunity to explain, as
forciblv as my meageI kongO vocabulary
at the time would permit, that when
hunting big game L sometimes fired at
the head, at other times | put the bullet
behind the shoulder, and occasionally L
aimed at the groin. The natives de-
cded to record the event by bestowing
on me native name. In the regions of
the Upper Kongo the most successful
hunter is known as "Makula," which
means arrows" and henceforth ! be-
came known by that proud title.