The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1910-05-13
PERlLS OFAFRICAN
BUFFALO HUNTING
copyright, 1909, by Benz. B. Hampton)

last I saw his grand head, which he
held high, come through the bush, but
was unable to get a goof view of his
chest. as directly his head was clear
Of the bush he lowered it. and my only
chance was at his head. Drawing a
bead on his forehead, pulled the trig-
ger, but the cartridge missed fire. He,
however, did not hear the click OF the
hammer, and before he was clear Of
the bush I dropped him dead in his
tracks with the left barrel at a dis
lance of exactly IA yard, the bullet
entering the center of his forehead
about an inch below the frontle of the
horns.
The following account of a hunt I
once had in the Arushawa-chini dis
trict will serve as an iAu=tration of
a buffalo's cunning. feroci+y and VITAL
ity.
l was encamped ~ the river Weri-
weri, short distance abo,.e The ma
tive village, but as the people were
afraid to prowl far from their homes
on account of the Nasal and other
enemies, game was not only very plen-
tiful but less wild than elsewhere.
Bufaloes were very numerous. in
large herds, besides a good many old
bulls, either solitary or in small bands
Of two or three.
AS 1 walked over the plain on the
"a If ho v~iu
quantities of game including, water
buck, impala and troop of Is os-
triches (Which I had tried many times
to circumvent, but always unsuccess-
fully until l drove them, when l got
fine old cock bird), besides the ever
lasting zebra and ''kongoni" (Harte-
beest). After going about three miles
up the river I at las saw two old
bull buffaloes on the opposite side of
the plain, quietly feeding: close to an
isloated patch of bush which stood
some little distance from the main
belt out in the plain. IS buffaloes
have rather poor sight, and as there
were two or three big trees between
the beasts and myself, about 400
yards from them, l told my men. some
rs in number, to follow me in single
file, and we all got up to a tree with
out the least trouble. At the moment
herd of zebras, which had hitherto
taken no notice of us, :. ,:denly took
fright on getting our wind and gal.
loped round between US and the but.
faloes. The latter, being thus dis.
turbed, numbered off into the isolated
clump of thick bush close by. After
giving them time to ott'c down and
forget fears I proceeded more eau.
tiously with my two gun bearers, leav.
ing the rest of the me under the
tree with orders to come on When they
heard shot or a signal. The buffa.
loes, however, were evide: y on the
alert, and as t,-ey were standing in
the shade, they discovered us when
we were still 100 yards off IS we
crossed the open, and bolted out on
the opposite side, making for the main
bush. Running around the clump to
try and keep them in sight, was just
in time to see them inter the open
bush and disappear from view.
This made it necessary for us To
take up their spoor, and while the gun
bearers were so engaged l '-ept a
lookout ahead. After going a short
distance l saw one Of the b~utes trot.
ting back toward us, and when about
100 yards off it dived into a small
dense clump of bush some 20 yards
square, followed almost ir-mediatelv
afterwards by the other one. This pro.
ceeding on the part of buffaloes l have
read of, though it was the first and
only instance In my own experience.
and as my suspicious were aroused
instead of making straight for them
along their spoor, l made a detour
alocS the low struggling bush and
stalAed up to small tree within 60
yards of the clump they were in. AT
first l could see nothing of them. the
clump being too thick, but with the
aid of binoculars I made out part of
the head and the outline of the neck
OF one of them as it stood broadside
on. Taking the eight-bore, l fired at
the place where thought his shoulder
ought to be, and he fell with a deem
groan, which at first led me to be-
lieve that he was either dead or diving.
The other one promptly floundered
out of the bush and stood broadside
on looking in my direction sufficiently
long to enable me to change rifles
and place a four-bore bullet in his
shoulder; but it was too high and too
far back, and off he went. In the
meantime the other one in the clump.
after kicking and plunging about,
picked himself up and went after his
companion, and as saw that he was
very lame made so certain that he
would not go far that I did not fire
at him again. Before following them
l took hasty survey of the ground
and found my suspicious confirmed.
They had returned on their own spoor
when first saw them trotting back
and had I not seen them, should
have followed up their spoor which I
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