or of Caffraria, in
1772, in company with a sergeant and a European gardener, who had
resided in the colony some time, and who acted as guide on the occasion,
met with the following perilous adventure:--

"We had not advanced far into the wood," says the traveller, "before we
had the misfortune of meeting with a large old male Buffalo, which was
lying down quite alone, in a spot that was free from bushes for the
space of a few square yards. He no sooner discovered Auge, the gardener,
who went first, than, roaring horribly, he rushed upon him. The gardener
turning his horse short round, behind a large tree, by that means got in
some measure out of the Buffalo's sight, which now rushed straight
forward towards the sergeant, who followed next, and gored his horse in
the belly in such a terrible manner, that it fell on its back that
instant, with its feet turned up in the air, and all its entrails
hanging out, in which state it lived almost half an hour. The gardener
and the sergeant, in the meantime, had climbed up into trees, where
they thought themselves secure. The Buffalo, after this first
achievement, still appeared to take his course in the same direction,
and, therefore, could not have failed in his way to pay his compliments
to me, who all the while was coming towards him, and, in the narrow pass
formed by the boughs and branches of the trees, and on account of the
rustling noise these made against my saddle and baggage, had neither
seen nor heard anything of what had passed; as in my way I frequently
stopped to take up plants, and put them into my handkerchief, I
generally kept behind my companions.

"The sergeant had brought two horses with him for the journey. One of
them had already been despatched, and the other now stood just in the
way of the Buffalo, who was going out of the wood. As soon as the
Buffalo saw this second horse, he became more outrageous than before,
and he attacked it with such fury, that he not only drove his horns into
the horse's breast, and out again through the very saddle, but also
threw it to the ground with such violence, that it died that very
instant, and most of its bones were broken. Just at the moment that he
was occupied with this latter horse, I came up to the opening, where the
wood was so thick that I had neither room to turn my horse, nor to get
on one side; I was, therefore, obliged to abandon him to his fate, and
take refuge in a tolerably high tree, up which I climbed.