basto

The bellowing of the basto started off the rest of the lower animals, including the nobargans, which growl and roar like beasts.

Escape on Venus Burroughs, Edgar Rice, 1875-1950 1963

"Firing into a crowd of hundreds is not the same as firing at a charging basto," said Duare; "where there were so many, you couldn't miss them all."

Escape on Venus Burroughs, Edgar Rice, 1875-1950 1963

It might be kloonobargan, the hairy, man-eating savages; or a tharban, that most frightful of lion-like carnivores; or a basto, a huge, omnivorous beast that bears some slight resemblance to the American bison; or, perhaps worst of all, ordinary human beings like yourself, but with a low evaluation of life -- that is, your life.

Escape on Venus Burroughs, Edgar Rice, 1875-1950 1963

"A basto," whispered Kamlot, but from his previous description of the beast I had already guessed its identity.

Pirates of Venus Burroughs, Edgar Rice, 1875-1950 1962

The basto stopped and looked about as he heard my companion's voice.

Pirates of Venus Burroughs, Edgar Rice, 1875-1950 1962

I had not forgotten the ferocious basto that Kamlot and I had encountered in Vepaja, and, though I had seen nothing quite so formidable as yet among the nearer beasts, there were some creatures grazing at a considerable distance from me whose lines suggested a too great similarity to those bisonlike omnivores to insure ease of mind.

Pirates of Venus Burroughs, Edgar Rice, 1875-1950 1962

When they saw us, they pointed at Kamlot, and I heard them telling some of the sailors that he was the one who had slain the basto with a single sword thrust, a feat which appeared to force their admiration, as well it might have.

Pirates of Venus Burroughs, Edgar Rice, 1875-1950 1962

When a basto appears upon the scene, man is as often the hunted as the hunter, but we are not hunting bastos now.

Pirates of Venus Burroughs, Edgar Rice, 1875-1950 1962

From Kamlot's description I visualized the basto as an enormous boar with horns, or a buffalo with the jaws and teeth of a carnivore, and judged that its twelve hundred pounds of weight would render it a most formidable beast.

Pirates of Venus Burroughs, Edgar Rice, 1875-1950 1962

To my surprise, he dropped his spear to the ground and carried in its stead a slender leafy branch which he cut from the tree before descending to engage the bellowing basto.

Pirates of Venus Burroughs, Edgar Rice, 1875-1950 1962