NIMAL LIFE
[N AFRICA

. ART II. THE VEGETARIANS

BY
MAJOR J. STEVENSON-HAMILTON

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IN HIS NATi\'E Wll.ns

ANIMAL LIFE
IN AFRICA

BY MAJOR J. STEVENSON-HAMILTON

F.R.G.S., C.M.Z.S., LATE 6th (INNISKILLING) DRAGOONS

WARDEN OF THE TRANSVAAL GOVERNMENT GAME

RESERVES

Book II

THE VEGETARIANS

LONDON
WILLIAM HEINEMANN

London: William Heinemanv 1917

INTRODUCTION

I HAVE divided the present edition of Animal Life in
Africa in three small volumes, each of them practically
self-contained and dealing respectively with :

(i) The carnivorous or flesh-eating animals ; together
with chapters on apes, monkeys, baboons, and some
miscellaneous types ;

(2) The hoofed herbivorous,or vegetable-eating animals;

(3) Some of the birds, reptiles, and fishes.

A table of classification has been added in the form
of an appendix to each volume.

Since natural history terms are not in everyday use,
the following explanation of some of them may be found
useful.

Species : A group of animals which bear a very close
resemblance to one another with regard to the most
essential points of their bodily structure. Thus all
domestic cats, though individuals may differ in colour,
size and other points, are alike in the chief charac-
teristics of their structure, and belong to the same
species.

Genus {plural, genera) : A group of animals consisting
of one or more different species. Thus the lion
and the leopard belong to different species of the
same genus — that of the true cats. Animals be-
longing to the same genus are not so closely alike
' as those belonging to the same species, but they

viii INTRODUCTION

have certain characteristics in common by means
of which they are distinguished from all others.

Family : A group of animals consisting of one or more
genera. A family is, of course, a wider classification
than a genus, and the characteristics which its
members have in common are fewer in number.
Thus a dog and a fox belong to the same family,
though of different genera.

Order : An order is a still more comprehensive group,
and consists of animals which are alike in only a very
few special features. Thus all flesh-eating animals,
to whatever family they belong, are placed in the
order Carnivora, and all herb-eating animals in the
order Herbivora.

Class : This is the largest group of all, and consists
of animals which have the broadest and most
general characteristics in common.

The principal of the eight classes into which the Verte-
brates, or those animals which are possessed of a back-
bone, are divided are :

(i) Mammals : Warm-blooded animals which suckle
their young.

(2) Birds, which are warm-blooded animals, covered

with feathers, and usually, though not always,
possessed of the power of flight.

(3) Reptiles, which are cold-blooded primitive animals,

with a skin formed of horny plates or scales, but
which breathe in the same manner as the fore-
going.

(4) Amphibians : Cold-blooded primitive animals, whose

young are aquatic and breathe through gills like
fishes. Frogs, toads, newts, and salamanders are
amphibians.

INTRODUCTION ix

(5) Fishes : Cold-blooded aquatic animals, which breathe
air through giUs during their whole lives.

The above five large classes, together with three others
consisting of small marine creatures, make up the Verte-
brate sub-kingdom of the great Animal kingdom.

It might seem superfluous to go further and define
what an " animal " really is, were it not that there
occurs not infrequent misconception on the point. An
animal, then, is that which can be classed neither ab a
vegetable nor as a mineral, and so the term includes
all birds, reptiles, fishes, and insects.

Other descriptive terms used are explained in the
text. A few of the most common, however, are, for
convenience of reference, given below.

Arboreal : Used to describe animals which live in, or
habitually frequent trees.

Nocturnal : Used to describe animals which lie up
during the daytime and issue forth to hunt their
food, &c., at night.

Migratory : Used to describe animals which wander
regularly or occasionally from one region to another.

Pachyderms : Thick-skinned animals, such as the
elephant, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus.

Ungulates : Hoofed animals.

Specialization : The development of an organ of the body
in some special direction. In whatever degree groups
or' species of animals have developed peculiaxities
of sfructure distinguishing them each from older
and more simply formed groups or species, so are they
described as being more or less highly specialized.

Environment : The surroundings of the animal, and
the external conditions with which it constantly
comes into contact.

X INTRODUCTION

Rudimentary : An organ is said to be rudimentary
when it is not fully developed, or is in an early stage
of development.

Plantigrade : A term applied to animals which walk
on the soles of their feet, and on what in human
beings would be the palms of the hands (elephants,
bears, &c.).

DiGiTiGRADE : A term applied to animals which walk upon
what would be among human beings the points of
the toes and the ends of the fingers. The wrist and
heel thus become what are termed in the horse the
knee and the point of the hock respectively. Among
the carnivora the first joint of the fingers becomes
a pad on which the animal walks, and the nails,
instead of solidifying into hoofs, as among the
majority of the herbivora, become claws for scraping
or for holding prey. The large majority of both
carnivorous and herbivorous animals are digitigrade.

Fauna : The fauna of a country implies its animal as
distinct from its plant life (flora) .

Ruminants : Ungulates which chew the cud.

BoviD^ : That large family of the ruminants which
have their horns in the form of a hoUow sheath
enclosing a bony core and do not cast them annually
like the Cervidce or deer family. Cattle, sheep, and
antelopes belong to the Bovidce family.

Antelope : This term is popularly applied to those of
the hollow-homed ruminants which aje neither
cattle, sheep, nor goats. It is incapable of any
clearer definition. Some tribes of antelopes appear
more nearly to resemble the cattle and buffaloes,
others the goats.

J. Stevenson-Hamilton

CONTENTS

CHAl'. PAGE

I. HOOFED ANIMALS i

II. THE ELEPHANT: HYRAXES OR DASSIES 12

III. RHINOCEROSES 26

IV. ZEBRAS 34
V. THE HIPPOPOTAMUS 43

VI. WILD PIGS 53

VII. THE GIRAFFE 60

VIII. THE BUFFALO 64

IX. ANTELOPES— SABLE : ROAN : GEMSBUCK :

THE BEISA : ORYXES : THE ADDAX 69

X. ANTELOPES {continued)— UARTEBEESTS AND

THEIR KIN : WILDEBEESTS 76

XI. ANTELOPES {continued)— THK IMPALA 91

XII. ANTELOPES {continued)— SPRINGBUCK AND

OTHER GAZELLES : DUIKERS 107

XIII. ANTELOPES {continued)— ELANDS : THE

BONGO : THE BUSHBUCK 114

XIV. ANTELOPES {continued)— THE INYALA 126

xi

xii CONTENTS

CHAP.

XV. ANTELOPES {coniinued)— THE SITUTUNGA :

KUDUS 135

XVI. ANTELOPES (coniinued)— TUB KLIPSPRINGER:
ORIBIS : STEENBUCKS : THE GRYSBUCK :
SUNIS : DIK-DIKS 139

XVII. ANTELOPES {continued)— WATERBVCKS : THE
LECHWE : COBS : REEDBUCKS : THE VAAL
OR GREY RHEBUCK 148

APPENDIX 165

ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA
BOOK II: THE VEGETARIANS

CHAPTER I
HOOFED ANIMALS

Definition : Food Habits : Tsetse Fly and Game :

Rinderpest and Partial Disappearance of Fly : Ticks,

Game and Stock Disease

The hoofed animals of Africa include several sub-orders.
These contain the creatures usually classed as " big
game " and are (i) animals with an even number of toes
like antelopes (two) and hippopotami (four) ; (2) these
with an odd number of toes like zebras (one) and rhino-
ceroses (three) ; and (3) the elephant.

The first of these sub-orders (i) is further split up into
four divisions : first the cud-chewing animals or ruminants,
buffaloes, antelopes, giraffes and the okapi (the true
ruminants). In all the above the front teeth have dis-
appeared from the upper jaw, and are replaced by a hard
pad, suitable, in conjunction with the tongue and lower
front teeth, for seizing and cropping herbage. The second
and third divisions contain the chevrotains and camels
respectively. The fourth division is made up of the
hippopotamus family, and the African wild swine. These
have front teeth in both jaws.

The second sub-order (2) includes the rhinoceroses and

2 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

horses, the latter being represented in Africa by the
zebras and by the wild ass of the north-east.

Although all hoofed animals, with the exception of
the pigs, are strictly vegetable feeders, there is a wide
difference in the diet of the various kinds, some being
grass eaters only, while others favour a leafy diet,
and others again prefer roots and barks of various
descriptions. Speaking broadly, animals which love the
open plains are, as a rule, by habit grass eaters, while
those preferring the leaf}^ depths of the forest are generally
browsers. Among the latter too there is a great deal
of difference in the nature of the food consumed, for,
though there are many descriptions of trees and bushes,
the leaves and roots of which appear to be indiscriminately
eaten by most species, there are others which support
certain types of animals alone, and in the absence of
which from the forest, these animals are not met with.
Water is required in greatly varying amounts by different
species ; 'for whereas some will slake their thirst three
or four times in the twenty-four hours, others, even
during the dry winter months, seem to require very little
liquid nourishment. In the more arid portions of the
continent indeed, there can be no doubt that the local
animals are very largely independent of it.

Hoofed animals may either go in herds, or be solitary
in habit, though by far the greater number of the species
incline in greater or less degree to the former mode of
life. There seems indeed no hard and fast rule to guide
our attempts to explai© the causes of their very diverse
customs ; for although at first sight it may appear that
purely grass-eating animals are found associated in
larger companies than are those which seek either a mixed,
or a purely leafy diet, the exceptions, such as elands
and impalas, tend to upset any partially formed theories.

HOOFED ANIMALS 3

It is true that the more strictly forest species of antelopes
— generally speaking browsers — are decidedly less sociable
than those favouring a more open country, and that they
appear to rely largely on the concealment provided by
the denseness of the covert, and their own individual
senses, for protection. Plain-dwelling animals, on the
other hand, associated in large herds and, when possible
avoiding long grass, trust to the added facilities for
detecting approaching foes, provided by numbers and
an extensive field of view.

But in all these matters it is very difficult to come to
any definite conclusion or to lay down any hard and fast
rules ; possibly because we do not know what causes of
long standing may have combined to influence animals
out of their original modes of life, and to drive them to
seek surroundings not originally native to them. Indeed,
the more personal experience one has of wild animals
and their ways, the more clearly it stands out how much
caution must be exercised both in making up the mind
regardmg the factors which influence their individual
and collective actions, and even in forming any theories
respecting them, except those of the most general
character. It may be that, during a considerable period,
certain events have been observed to take place with such
marked regularity as to give rise to the impression that
they are the rule. Just, however, as the problem appears
comfortably solved, the observer is confronted by a whole
sequence of incidents of so contrary a nature as com-
pletely to undermine the very foundations of the theory,
and the mind is left floundering once more in the slough
of uncertainty, whence it had fondly believed itself to
have emerged.

To him who has spent time and taken trouble in
studying the ways of African fauna under natural con-

4 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

ditions, nothing can be more amusing than to read the
uncompromising statements regarding the habits of certain
species often set down in print by superficial observers ;
unless it be to listen to the dogmatic assertions of
occasional " old hunters," regarding what must, to a great
extent, remain matters of pure speculation. Therefore,
anything the present writer may hereafter set down in
regard to the habits of animals must be regarded as
correct only in so far that it is a true record of personal
observations, extending over a considerable period, and
has no pretensions to being final.

Timid as are the majority of antelopes when con-
fronted by their natural enemies, nevertheless the males
of all species will on occasion fight desperately with one
another, and deaths during these single combats are by
no means infrequent. Defeated animals depart to form
themselves into little troops of independent bachelors,
but when an old bull has been driven out of his herd, he
appears to lead thereafter a nearly solitary existence, such
old animals seldom being found clubbed together in bands
as are the younger males. Not infrequently they join
themselves for protection to herds of distinct species.
Indeed one of the commonest sights in the bushveld of
South Africa is that of an old wildebeest bull running
with a herd of impala or zebra. Generally speaking the
horns of these old animals are very massive throughout,
but have become worn from the tips downwards, so that
in actual length they are seldom equal to those either of
a good herd bull, or of the best of a troop of young males.
Probably the majority before long fall victims to carnivora,
but old animals may sometimes be found, which by luck,
or superior cunning, have managed to preserve their
lives, until their bodies are well-nigh crippled through
old age.

HOOFED ANIMALS 5

A matter which seems Hkely vitally to affect the
position if not the very existence of the hoofed animals
in certain parts of Africa, is that of their suggested con-
nexion with the insect-carried diseases which affect man
.and his domestic animals.

The most pernicious of these insects is the tsetse fly,
which carries a disease known as sleeping sickness, fatal
to human beings, but not to domestic animals ; and
another, called nagana, which kills the latter but does
not affect the former.

The tsetse is an insect a little larger than an ordinary
house fly, and is extremely active and quick on the wing ;
the bite feels like the puncture of a red-hot needle. There
are many different kinds of tsetses, but it now appears
that all are more or less responsible for both diseases,
where such happen to exist in a locality.

Wild animals do not contract either of these fatal
ailments — sleeping sickness and nagana — and experts
have discovered the germs of both in the blood of wild
animals of many kinds, both warm and cold blooded. It
is therefore clear that the tsetse, first biting an immune
wild creature which carries the disease germs in its blood
harmlessly to itself, then proceeds to attack a man or a
domestic animal, injects into one or other the poison
which it has taken from the blood of the wild animal,
and so causes death. Both diseases are nearly abso-
lutely fatal ; sleeping sickness to man, and nagana to
stock. A fly which has not previously fed on affected
blood gives a harmless bite. Sleeping sickness has been
known only in the tropical parts of Africa, but nagana
was at one time spread over a large part of the forest
country of South Africa, and is still prevalent wherever
there is tsetse fly.

Knowledge of the above facts, and the belief that game

6 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

and fly cannot exist separately has led to a very strong
agitation to have the game exterminated in regions where
fly exists and where therefore these diseases are pre-
valent. The agitation at first sight seems to be very
reasonable, and its leaders are for the most part animated
by perfectly just motives. Behind them, however, is a
mass of support much less commendable in principle.
The fact is that in a large proportion of the human race
the " hunters' instinct," the desire to kiU, to shed blood,
that heritage from savage ancestors, is but dormant.
To men living as it were on the spot, there is the further
inducement of the profit which might be made from the
sale of the hides, horns, and meat of the dead animals,
so long as the game lasted. When there is added to these
inducements to kill everything, a mere surface acquaint-
ance with the facts, an entire want of knowledge of
natural history, a callous lack of interest in or sympathy
with aU lower animals, especially wild ones, except in so
far as they may be made of profit to man the tyrant,
and a secret objection to all laws and restrictions, just
because they are laws and restrictions, it may easily be
seen that any anti-game crusade is not likely to lack
support.

Fortunately however for the wild animals, the in-
vestigations of the experts, while making clear the
responsibility of, at any rate some of them, for supplying
the tsetse fly with the disease germs, have brought out a
number of other facts, which shows the problem to be
very much more complicated than it would appear to
be at first sight.

As regards sleeping sickness, it has been found that
domestic animals, no less than wild ones, are capable of
carrying the germs in their blood without harm to them-
selves, and may therefore be an even greater menace to

HOOFED ANIMALS 7

human beings, because of their closer relations with them.
It is even supposed by some that a proportion of human
being are themselves immune to the disease, and that
therefore such natives of a district where the disease
exists, and the fly is present to carry it about, may be,
unknown to themselves and others, a standing danger
to their fellows.

Again, it has been pointed out that all the agitation
has been against the " big game," that is the larger,
hoofed animals. It would not be difficult perhaps to
exterminate them, but it would be very much harder if
not impossible to get rid, in a wild uncivilized country,
of all the hosts of smaller buck, the hares, rats, bats, wild
cats, jackals, and mungooses, which though not perhaps
offering so large an area, each in its own body, for the
fly to bite, as the bigger beasts, would still no doubt serve
it when better fare failed. It is probable that all warm-
blooded creatures, and even cold-blooded ones which do not
contract the disease, may be capable of helping to spread it.

Much the same arguments hold good in the case of
nagana, which is fatal to domestic but not to wild animals,
with the addition that man himself, not being affected
by the disease, is very likely one of the chief factors in
the infection of his own animals.

On one point , every one is agreed, and that is that the
tsetse fly must be got rid of. The difference in opinion
lies in how it should be done.

" KiU off the big game of course ! " shouts one party.
" Don't be in such a hurry " answers the other, " you
can't be sure that it will achieve our purpose, from what
we know at present, and we can't consent to see a million-
year-old fauna killed off in a few years as a mere experi-
ment, and to please those of you who are merely seeking
to make a little personal profit out of its destruction."

8 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

The one thing that is positively known to get rid of
tsetse fly is the clearing of country. It must have shade.
For this reason cultivation is fatal to it, and that is why
it has always disappeared before civilization. The
presence or absence of big game appears only to be a
secondary consideration. There are many places in
Africa where the tsetse fly exists in large numbers without
any game being present at all. Much of the western side
of Africa swarms with fly in places where there are very
few if any large wild animals. On the other hand there
are a great number of spots, once the haunt of tsetse,
from which it has completely disappeared, although the
big game continues to be as numerous as ever, and needless
to say there are any amount of tsetse-free game countries.

The Sabi Game Reserve, with which I have had so long
an acquaintance, serves as an instance of the former.
Up to the time of the rinderpest, that terrible epidemic
which carried off so many of the cattle and so much of
the game in the 'nineties, the Sabi Bush was full of tsetse
fly, but now there is not one left, neither there, nor
anywhere else in the Transvaal, nor even in neighbouring
Portuguese East Africa. But the game in the Sabi is
more numerous than it has been for over twenty years.

Why did the fly disappear ? Frankly I can't say.
People will tell you it was because the game died out and
the fly died of starvation. But the game did not die
out ; far from it. No zebra died. The principal buck
present in the fly bush were impalas, and they suffered
little if at all from rinderpest. As a matter of fact the
disease attacked only certain kinds of game, such as kudu
and buffalo, those animals which have big moist muzzles
like cattle suffering most, while those kinds which have
hair growing low down on the muzzle, like goats and
sheep, escaped entirely or nearly so. Why ? I don't

HOOFED ANIMALS 9

think any one knows, and I doubt whether any one has
tried to find out. The fact that it was the more goat-Hke,
in this respect, of the antelopes that were immune, is
not generally known, I believe.

The most reasonable explanation for the disappearance
of tsetse fly from the Sabi Bush (and many other places
in Africa at the same time and under similar circumstances)
would seem to be that the fly died from the rinderpest
poison ; but experiments conducted in East Africa did
not support this idea : so the mystery is one that must
await clearing up by some investigator of the future.
It seems worth while finding out. Fly is admitted to
feed on all kinds of game, and in fact any blood it can
get, so that the starvation theory is quite out of court
in the cases I refer to. The great point is that the fly
absolutely disappeared, so that in the Sabi Reserve I
have been able to live for nearly a dozen years with
stock of all kinds right in the middle of the old fly
area.

If the reason for this disappearance, absolute and
complete, of all the swarms of tsetse fly within less than
six months, and without any marked diminution of the
majority of the different kinds of game, from a certain
locality, could be discovered, we should I think have
gone a long way to the solving of the problem which now
confronts the experts in Central Africa.

As regards the main problem of fly and game, the facts
from both points of view are now fortunately well known
to those in authority, and there seems every probability,
reasonable experiments having been tried, of a just
balance being eventually struck, which, while duly safe-
guarding the health of human beings and their domestic
animals, will not countenance any reckless and wanton
wholesale squandering of irreplaceable wild life.

10 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

The relation between game- and tick-borne diseases
fatal to stock is another question often discussed.

A great deal of the game country throughout Africa
swarms with grass ticks at certain seasons of the year,
and though, in many areas, it is exceptional to find many
adhering to antelopes and zebras while in good condition,
in others the reverse is the case, though to no herbivorous
animals are the insects found clinging in such enormous
numbers as they are sometimes to the various carnivora.
No doubt, speaking generally, game as a whole furnishes
a reservoir for ticks of various kinds. There are some
five or six diseases which affect stock in South Africa, at
present known to be transmitted by ticks. Of these
the two most important are biliary fever, which attacks
horses, mules and donkeys, and in varying degree other
animals, but is only occasionally fatal ; and secondly,
east coast fever, a most virulent disease which has des-
troyed, and is still destroying, large numbers of cattle in
Africa. Writing of this latter. Sir Arnold Theiller,
K.C.M.G., the eminent bacteriological expert, says :

" It has been proved that in east coast fever, a tick,
after it has once bitten an animal, can no longer transmit
the disease. It must be emphasized here that the
popular opinion that ticks pass from one animal to
another, and communicate the disease in this way, is
wrong. Indeed, males of ticks can live for many months
on an animal, but their peculiarity is to remain on that
animal, which they only leave accidentally, when they
are rubbed off, and since experiments have proved that
once they have bitten they become harmless, such an
accidental change does not come into consideration in
east coast fever."

Now, as game, like all domestic animals except cattle,
appears to be immune from this disease, it therefore

HOOFED ANIMALS ii

follows from the above that an infected tick in any of
its stages, by biting a wild animal, thereby frees itself from
the disease, and is thenceforth harmless. Thus, so far
from being dangerous factors in the spread of east coast
fever, game are, in all probability, direct cleansing agents,
and, equally with sheep, goats, or horses, may perform
useful work in clearing a ground, whereon diseased cattle
have been pastured, of the infected ticks.

In the case of biliary fever, if game harbour the germs,
so equally do many of the domestic animals of a country.
Sir Arnold Theiller writes of this matter :

" When we say that biliary fever affects equines, we
must make a reservation in stating that the South African
animal — born and bred in the veld— when grown up, is
not liable to suffer from the disease, it only does so under
special conditions. The chief sufferer is the animal bred
in the stable of a town, or imported from oversea, say
from England or America, where the disease is unknown.
We must remember, therefore, that the animal born in
the veld is immune. .' . . An animal which has recovered
from this disease retains the affection in its blood, and
probably if remaining exposed in the veld remains an
infectious agent to the end of its life."

From the foregoing, therefore, it seems evident that
no stronger case can be made out against game in regard
to biliary fever than in the case of the east coast disease,
lor in order absolutely to protect the relatively few town-
bred and imported animals from it, it would be necessary
to kill off not only all the wild animals, but the greater
part of the domestic ones also.

The clamour, indeed, for legislation involving the
wholesale destruction of game, on the pretext that it is a
standing menace to the existence of stock, is in great
measure an artificial one, based, it must be feared, a

12 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

good deal upon mere lust of slaughter, coupled with the
appreciation of the pecuniary value of the animals them-
selves. " The pioneers of civilisation are generally
pushing, forceful men, with strongly developed indi-
vidualism, not always very far-sighted, but unscrupulous
in sweeping out of their path all apparent obstacles to
immediate success, as well as determined to turn to their
advantage all the assets of the new country, so far as in
their power lies." * Obviously the wild fauna of the latter
is one of the first things that tempts the desire for gain.

CHAPTER II

THE ELEPHANT : HYRAXES OR DASSIES

The Elephant. Whether the African elephant will ever
become a useful domestic animal like his Asiatic cousin,
appears at present doubtful. It cannot be said that any
very extensive trials of his ability to serve man have, up
to now, been made, and, indeed, it is only within the
last few years that he has excited any interest at all,
beyond that which he rouses as a provider of ivory for
the market, and sport for the hunter.

Since African game preservation has assumed practical
shape, however, the elephant has received his share of
attention — in common with the zebra and the eland —
as a possible domestic animal, and it has been felt that
in view of his rapid decrease all over the continent, any
proposed experiments should not be too long delayed.
The authorities of the Congo Free State were the first to
carry their ideas into practice, and for the last five or
six 3^ears a station for the capture and domestication of
elephants has been established at Agri on the River Welle.

* Theodore Roosevelt.

THE ELEPHANT 13

A considerable number of young animals are now used
for station work at this place, carrying bricks, dragging
timber, and so on.

Captain Rinquet, the late commandant at Lado, was
kind enough to show the writer, when there in 1909, some
interesting photographs taken of these animals. The
experiment is extremely interesting, and one which it
may be hoped will not only invite imitation elsewhere,
but will itself be persevered with through the number of
years necessary for a reliable judgment to be formed
as to its ultimate utility. The animals are at present
young, and therefore perhaps amenable to control in a
degree which may not be possible when they have attained
maturer age ; but if all difficulties are finally overcome,
transport in the remoter parts of Africa may receive
substantial aid, and another argument for the preservation
of this grand species from extinction will exist.

Mr. Sclater as a result of his very long experience of
both African and Indian elephants in the London Zoo-
logical Gardens, is emphatically of the opinion that both
are equally docile. He writes :

" Since 1865 there have been African as well as Indian
elephants in the Society's menagerie. Both have been
treated alike and both, it may be said, are equally in-
telligent and tractable. All elephants on attaining adult
age are liable to fits of temper, and to become dangerous,
but this occurs in Indian as well as in African species."

The argument has often been advanced in favour of
the domestication of African elephants, that in classic
times, the Carthaginians, and other Mediterranean
powers, used them in warfare. Whether this was the
case, or whether Asiatic elephants, imported or home
bred, are referred to by the ancient WTiters seems un-
certain. The theory has sometimes been held that an

14 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

indigenous race of elephants akin to one or other may
have existed in North Africa in the past, but this has so
far been unsupported by the discovery of any remains.
The impressions of elephants upon Roman coins appear,
by the shape of the head and body, and allowing a margin
for inaccuracy to the designer, to indicate the Indian
animal : but the writer Appian states that " the Cartha-
ginians, fearing an invasion by Scipio, collected and
trained numbers of elephants in a short time." This
could not have been possible if they had to be sought at
a great distance.

It is undeniable that there are many apparent obstacles
in the way of domestication. Owing to the shape of his
body, which slopes considerably towards the tail, the
fashioning of a howdah for the African elephant must
necessarily present greater difficulties than that of one
for the Indian animal ; nor is it at all certain that the
negro will make a reliable and efficient mahout, being,
generally speaking, endowed with no natural love for,
or sympathy with, any of the lower animals. A still
more serious objection is based on economic grounds.
The Ethiopian region supplies, to the square mile, as
compared with India, but a limited amount of food suitable
for the animals. Elephants consume daily an immense
quantity of fodder, and in consequence there must be an
unlimited quantity close at hand to satisfy the wants of
beasts working in one place.

Some years ago the Indian Government was approached
with a view to obtaining information as to what would be
the probable cost of catching and domesticating thirty
wild African elephants per annum. It was estimated
that for this purpose ten trained animals, with their
attendants, would have to be imported from India, and
that the total cost for the first year, including purchase

THE ELEPHANT 15

price of trained elephants, expenses of attendants, gear
and equipment, and food of trained and captured beasts,
would come to roughly 70,000 rupees, or about £4660.
A little later (1903), Col. Delme-Radcliffe furnished a
report on the capturing of wild elephants, the gist of
which was as follows :- -" Elephants in Africa move too
far and too fast to allow of the ordinary deliberate pre-
parations for a kheddah. The forests are very extensive,
and it might be difficult to collect enough natives for the
difficult drives required.

" African natives could not be relied upon to have
sufficient patience to stick to the kheddah work.

" African elephants would be very difficult and dan-
gerous to drive about. Indian elephants being smaller,
less heavily armed, and slower in pace than African ones,
would probably be unable to control them.

" In India, a first-class elephant receives about S60 lbs.
of sugar-cane, and 60 lbs. of flour chappaties as a single
day's ration. African elephants, being bigger, would
require more.

" A competent staff is absolutely necessary.

" The beasts if successfully trained, might be used for
carrying field guns, or for hiring out to shooting parties.

" They cannot compare with carts or even porters for
transport work where roads exist ; where there are no
proper roads, they might not be able to carry heavy loads
through the swamps and rivers, and would break down
the makeshift bridges found in wild countries.

" An elephant eats over 900 lbs. of food a day and will
carry 12 cwt., that is to say, the loads of twenty-four
porters, who in the same period require altogether only
48 lbs. of food.

" Loaded elephants do not travel faster than the
ordinary porter marches. Porters are usually reckoned

i6 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

the least economical form of transport. How much
more extravagant, then, would elephants be ?

" Elephants require a great deal of water, and many
of the caravan routes are very deficient in this, for a good
part of the year.

" It would be sheer waste of money to attempt elephant
training without a staff of trained men, who would require
high pay."

There is certainly no doubt that there are few if any
places in Africa where tame elephants could be shackled
and turned out to feed as is done in Asia : in the dry
season especially, the labour of collecting food, to say
nothing of the expense, would be very great. The
nutriment adequate to keep them in good condition in a
natural state would probably not suffice when the animals
were doing hard work. Thus there are grave difficulties
to be overcome before this great beast's strength can be
made available as an adjunct to labour in Africa : but
they are probably not insoluble, and given the necessity,
induced by some great shortage of native labour or other
causes, could no doubt be surmounted. In the meantime,
although there does not appear any urgent demand for
forms of transport other than are being generally used,
it is to be hoped that elephants may go on receiving the
partial protection lately accorded to them, in the hope
that they may prove useful, apart from the value of their
ivory, at some future date.

The ivory trade itself, the cause of the enormous
destruction of these animals in the past, furnishes good
reason why they should not be allowed to be greatly
reduced below their present numbers. In former days
the whole continent must have swarmed with elephants ;
otherwise, taking into consideration the slowness with
which they increase, and the huge ivory trade which has

i8 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

so long existed, they could not have survived to the
extent they have done. For a long time after the natives
discovered its commercial value, the ivory which was
found all over Central Africa, as the result of natural
deaths, was sufficient for trading purposes ; but at the
present day this source has mostly become exhausted,
and the living animal alone remains to satisfy the demands
of barter.

Omitting the wholesale destruction in South Africa
during the last century, which resulted in the virtual
extermination of the animals, within the last ten years
the numbers killed throughout the continent would, if
summed up, present a surprising total. A few instances
will suffice. In 1898 and 1899, two sportsmen are known
to have shot elephants producing four tons of ivory,
between Mobai and Bangue ; thirty-six tons were seen
in a store at Ibenge, collected between that place and
Yakoma, the local price being one franc per kilo ! About
the same time one sporting party paid ;^8oo duty on
tusks of ivory killed or acquired near Lake Rudolf. The
destruction of female and immature animals was also
very serious, and, ' without doubt, much of the total
weight annually traded, was made up of their small tusks.
At the end of 1902, immature ivory was sold in German
East Africa to the value of 17,700 rupees, which corre-
sponded perhaps to the tusks of between 1300 and 1400
young elephants, collected during the two or three years
within which prohibitory legislation had been in force
(Herr Gotzen's report). No doubt before the killing
of such animals was forbidden, the numbers destroyed
were still greater.

Since 1900, elephant -hunting has been everywhere
restricted by regulations, and the killing of females, and
of males carrying tusks under a certain weight, has been

THE ELEPHANT 19

altogether forbidden. Nevertheless very large numbers
are still slain in out-of-the-way districts, where control is
impracticable. It is believed that at the present moment
a large illicit trade goes on through Abyssinia and possibly
parts of Somaliland, in ivory obtained from animals
killed in British territory. In 1907 it became generally
known that the Lado Enclave, at that time under Belgian
jurisdiction, swarmed with elephants. Thither, accor-
dingly, flocked profit hunters from all parts of Europe
and Africa without right or licence, but considering the
venture well worth the risk. It is impossible to determine
how many elephants fell, but the number must certainly,
judging by the immense quantities of ivory which paid
transit dues through British territory, have run into
thousands. In the year ending March 1908, ;^I5,820
worth of ivory was exported from British East Africa,
£61,497 from Uganda ; while the same period saw 539
tons or £560,552 worth of ivory imported into the United
Kingdom, which means, allowing each elephant to carry
100 lbs. of ivory, that over 12,000 were accounted for
in that year. But as it is probable that a very large
proportion did not carry tusks of anything like that weight,
the total killed was most likely much larger, perhaps
double. There was also an increase of 932 cwt. of im-
ported ivory above the imports for 1907, in spite of the
fact that the total of elephants then living was smaller.
In parts of Africa where natives are in possession of fire-
arms, they kill large numbers of the beasts, and a great
deal of this ivory goes to Zanzibar, to which place over
85,000 lbs, were imported in 1907.

The elephant takes many years to come to maturity,
the breeding rate is extremely slow, and consequently
when the stock has been thinned down, it has not the same
chance of recovery as have other and more prolific species.

20 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

In the more efficiently administered areas, although
females and immature animals are protected, full-aged
bulls are shot under licences, by sportsmen and officials,
and this is now beginning to result, in many places, in a
scarcity of such animals. However, it seems to be
generally agreed that the best tuskers are not found with
the herds, and that, at least in Uganda and on the Nile,
herd bulls are seldom found with tusks weighing more
than 40 or 50 lbs. each.

At the present day elephants are found in the Knysna
and Addo Bush in Cape Colony, where they have been
very little disturbed for many years, and, having to some
extent lost their fear of man through long immunity, are
on occasions extremely troublesome. There are possibly
a few in the northern part of Zululand, and, in Portuguese
East Africa, from the Maputa to the Limpopo River, they
are sparsely distributed along the Swaziland and Trans-
vaal borders. There is a small herd in the north-eastern
Transvaal, acquired since the institution of the Game
Reserve there. In the country between Beira and the
Zambezi there are still a good many left, but few,
apparently, carrying ivory of any great size. In southern
Rhodesia some good herds which have survived recent
legislation yet remian. In north-western and north-
eastern Rhodesia, British and Portuguese Nyasaland,
and Mo9ambique, elephants are still found in considerable
numbers, as also through parts of German and British
East Africa. Uganda has long been famous for the fine
ivory carried by its elephants, which are numerous
through a great part of the country, and right across from
the Lake Rudolph district to the Nile, being plentiful
in the southern Sudan. Probably, however, the Congo
is now the principal home of these animals, and in
some portions of it they unquestionably exist in immense

THE ELEPHANT 21

numbers. The west coast territories are also said to be,
some of them, still fairly well stocked, and most of the
shooting is there done by natives armed with trade guns.

Elephants present a curious mixture of timidity and
aggressiveness. Though the slightest odour of human
beings is sometimes sufficient to scare them away from
the neighbourhood, and cause them to travel many miles,
on the other hand they will on occasion, and unlike most
other animals, attack in an entirely unprovoked manner.
Stories are current of the Knysna and Addo Bush elephants
occasionally chasing wayfarers, scattering working parties,
and so on. At Gondokoro in the Nile Province of
Uganda exists a herd of several hundred animals, com-
posed entirely of cows and young animals, which have
become such a terror to wayfarers, that the post road
from the Kit River is shunned as much as possible by
native travellers. Gondokoro was, until a few years ago,
a military station, and at that time the herd was con-
tinually receiving the attentions of sportsmen, until all
the bulls carrying ivory of any size had been shot out.
Although for some time past almost entirely left alone,
they still seem to cherish the memory of former grievances,
and instead of running away on the approach of human
beings, usually adopt precisely the opposite course.
Half a day's march north, at Lake Birika, the local
elephants show an entirely different disposition, and
betray no signs of truculence.

It seems to be agreed, that as a rule, cows and young
bulls are more aggressive and vindictive than are the
large males. Sportsmen getting into a herd of elephants
have often more to fear from animals standing concealed,
which charge down upon them from unexpected direc-
tions, than from their intended quarry. A young officer
lost his life in Nyasaland two or three years ago in this

22 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

manner, and instances of unprovoked attacks are con-
stantly occurring all over Africa, sometimes without
success, at others, with fatal issue to the hunter. My
friend, Mr. Neergaard, while following a fresh track in
Mo9ambique last year, was viciously charged from close
quarters by an elephant which he had not molested, and
before indeed he had so much as caught a glimpse of
the animals which he was following. On this occasion
only the coolness of his shooting and a heavy rifle saved
his life.

It is probable that, under modern conditions, elephant
hunting is a more dangerous pursuit than formerly.
The small bores which are often used have not the stopping
power of the old heavy rifles ; but the chief difference
lies in the fact that whereas the sportsman of the past
was free of the herd, he of the present day is restricted
both as regards numbers, and in that he may not shoot
females, or males whose tusks are not up to weight. He
must therefore, when the covert is dense, often go right
among the animals to look for a big bull, and this is a
proceeding fraught with considerable risk.

The habits of elephants, and methods of hunting
them, have been so fully discussed by so many com-
petent writers that there is little or nothing to be added
to what has already been written. They are not naturally
strictly forest-loving animals, but, as occurs with so many
other species, continued persecution tends to make them
more and more seek the shelter and protection of thick
covert, and until very recently the herd in the Transvaal
Game Reserve never ventured, even at night, beyond the
shelter of a certain large area of very dense bush, which
had for many years proved their only safe refuge. The
tread of the elephant is astonishingly light ; also, until
actual experience has been gained, it is difficult to believe

THE ELEPHANT 23

that it can be possible to approach so very close, in forest
or bush, to so huge an animal without seeing it. On one
occasion, hearing some shots near the road, the WTiter
left the path to investigate their cause ; he was pre-
ceded by a native, who presently ran into, almost to the
point of touching, a cow elephant, standing under a tree ;
the \vind was of course blowing from her, and she had
no idea of human presence. Although at the moment
we did not anticipate seeing elephants, and were pressing
on with another object, it was still remarkable how the
beast seemed, as it were, to loom up only when we were
close upon it.

Elephants are good swimmers, and rough or hilly
country offers no impediment to their movements. They
feed principally during the night or early morning,
standing about in shady places in the heat of the day,
although when used to being much disturbed, they often
keep moving slowly on all day, with only occasional
short halts. In hot weather they drink every night ;
when it is cooler less often, and their arrival at the water
is usually between nightfall and midnight. Their sight
is very poor, but whether their hearing is also, in reality,
indifferent, or whether the rumbling noises which every
individual in the herd is continually making render them
callous to other sounds, seems uncertain. Their scent
is extremely acute, and the flexible trunk is waved to
and fro to catch the slightest whiff of tainted air. There
do not appear to be any records of African elephants
having bred in captivity.

The most experienced hunters favour the head shot,
which is taken in a straight line between the eye and
the ear, and just in front of the latter ; this, if at the
right angle, kills the animal stone dead. In old days the
Boer mounted hunters used to practise what was known

24 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

to them as " knee haltering " : that is to say, the first
shot was directed at the animal's knee or leg — an elephant
when his leg is broken, or the bone badly injured, is
unable to move at all, and so the horsemen were enabled
to go on after the rest of the herd, and finish off the
maimed animals when the chase was over.

The pursuit of the elephant is perhaps the most exciting
and attractive of all forms of big game hunting in Africa ;
certain it is that to most men who have tasted this
form of sport, all others become insipid by comparison.
Those thrilling moments which the hunter spends after
he has come up with the herd in thick bush or long grass,
and is peering about for the big bull which he knows is
there, every nerve strung to highest tension, and the great
forms only partially revealed through the thick covert
as they stand or slowly move within but a few yards of
him, form a memory which time may not easily efface.
The protection now extended to the breeding stock of
elephants inspires the hope that this magnificent form
of sport may long be enjoyed in due moderation by those
to whom mere profit is not the main object.

The Hyraxes. The hyraxes have a sub-order all to
themselves, and although externally resembling rodents,
really form a branch of the hoofed animals. They are
small creatures, brown in colour, and not much larger
than guinea-pigs — which in fact they rather resemble in
form. They have very small tails, and possess three
well-developed toes on each foot, every one covered by
a flat nail, except the second toe of each hind foot, which
is clawed. Their ears are round and short, and their
faces rather pointed. t, , '' '^%

A number of different species, extending over the
greater part of Africa, are known. Some of these live
in trees and others on the ground : of the latter the

THE HYRAXES 25

so-called " Rock Rabbit " is the best known in South
Africa. They are vegetable feeders and said to be good
eating. In captivity they become very tame and are
quite intelligent. The forests of East Africa, at 7000 feet
and over, are full of Tree Dassies, and at night their
squalling cries ring all round the camp.

It is difficult to credit that the nearest living relatives
of the little Dassies, as they are called sometimes, are
the huge elephants and rhinoceroses. Such is the case,
however, and a word may be said in explanation. In
the dim dark ages of the world, when huge reptiles were
predominant everywhere, mammals probably were mostly
small tree-living creatures, of the gnawing or squirrel-
like type. At a later date most species as they developed
in size took to a ground life, and developed hoofs or paws
suitable to such an existence.

Among the former appear to have been the ancestors
of the hyraxes, and in the course of time the squirrel-like
claws which had been useful to them among the trees,
began gradually to spread out into nails, which would
perhaps ultimately have in their turn solidified into
hoofs. Before the transformation was complete, however,
some cause drove the hyraxes either up the trees again,
or under the ground, and therefore the hoofs being
useless to them, the progress of development was arrested
in that direction, and we probably see them now in the
process of getting their claws back again ; but Nature
is leisurely in her methods, and a few score thousand
years would not be too big a margin to allow for the
completion of the process, even if were unhindered.

26 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

CHAPTER III
RHINOCEROSES

The White Rhinoceros. The English name for this,
the largest of all African land mammals after the elephant,
is misleading, there being in colour very little difference
between it and the more widely distributed black
rhinoceros.

" The head is very long and massive ; upper lip straight
all round, with no trace of a proboscis ; nostrils are
elongated slits parallel to the mouth ; ears longer and
more pointed than in the other species, springing from
a closed cylinder about three inches long ; tail as in
the black variety, but only the last quarter provided
with wiry bristles. The front horn is situate on the
nasal bones, longer and more slender than in the other
species, curved gently backwards, and the upper part
of the front usually flattened by friction against the
ground ; the rear horn is usually short, straight, conical
and somewhat laterally flattened. Both horns vary a
good deal in length and shape." (Schlater.)

This splendid beast, which attains a height of over
six feet six inches at the shoulder, was once extremely
plentiful in many parts of South Africa, between the
Orange River and the Zambezi ; but is now probably
extinct south of the latter river, with the exception of
some fifteen preserved in Zululand. Two of these were
killed by natives in 1902, but, with this exception, they
have been unmolested for a good many years. Until
1900 it was believed that the species did not exist north
of the Zambezi, but in that year Major Gibbons, at the
conclusion of his great march from the Barotse country,
and while awaiting a steamer to take him down the Nile,

RHINOCEROSES 27

shot one in the Lado Enclave. It is now known that
the species is probably quite as numerous in the Enclave,
the north-eastern Congo, and the southern part of the
Sudan west of the Nile, as it was in former days in any
part of its South African range, and the fact of its presence
being for so long unsuspected is the more remarkable, when
it is remembered that such a keen zoologist as Sir Samuel
Baker spent so long in this very region, and that Emin
Pasha, also a zealous naturalist, albeit not a sportsman,
was for years at Lado, Rejaf, and Wadelai, round all of
which places the animals are very numerous. At a later
period, when the tide of Mahdiism was ebbing from the
Upper Nile, and European officers and travellers shot
many rhinoceroses along its banks, no one seems to have
noticed any difference between the ordinary black
rhinoceros found on the east bank and the totally different
animal across the river.

The Nile has evidently proved as impassable a barrier
to the progress of the square-mouthed rhinoceros from
remote times, as to that of his cousin the prehensile-*
lipped animal, whose range extends all along the east
bank. The nature of the country to east and west is
alike in every way, but, though only a few hundred yards
of water separate the two species, each seems exclusively
confined to its own side.

Mr. Selous' minute account of the habits of the
white rhinoceros in South Africa no doubt applies equally
to those of his brother on the west bank of the
Nile. He is a sluggish animal by nature, and betrays
none of the irritability so characteristic of the black
rhinoceros. He seldom charges, and his unsuspicious
habits have been the cause of his falling a ready victim
to the hunter, both European and native. He is prob-
* Adapted for grasping twigs, &c

28 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

ably entirely a grass-eater, feeding in the iate evening,
through the night, and in the early morning. He moves
steadily along at a slow walk all the time he is grazing,
not remaining more or less in one place to do so, as is the
habit of many animals. On the sun getting hot he lies
down under some convenient tree or bush to sleep soundly
through the warmer hours of the day ; he is then very
easy to approach. Sight and hearing both appear rather
deficient, but scent is keen. When on the move the head
is carried so low that the horn is almost parallel to the
ground. The calf precedes instead of following the
mother, and is guided by a gentle pressure of her horn.

White rhinoceroses are seldom found at any great
distance from water. They are believed to be very
numerous indeed to the west of the Nile, practically from
Lake Albert to some distance north of Lado, and have
not, so far as can be ascertained up to the present time,
been reduced in numbers to any noticeable extent.
This is due to the fact that the numerous hunters who
recently were busy in their haunts pursued the elephant
alone, a chase which precludes thought of all else. It is
therefore to be hoped that when access to these remote
regions becomes less difficult. Government will take
effectual steps to guard these inoffensive and interesting
creatures, in this their last known refuge, from the fate
which has overtaken them in South Africa.

The Black or Prehensile-lipped Rhinoceros.
Unlike his so-called " white " cousin, the black rhinoceros
has a range embracing nearly the whole of Africa, except
where he has been exterminated through human agency.
In colour he is not noticeably darker than the other
species ; the height is much less, only about five feet at
the shoulder ; the skull is shorter, and the horns, of
which the front one usually, though not always, exceeds

30 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

the other, are shorter and more massive. In all rhino-
ceroses these horns are a mass of closely and vertically-
packed fibres growing from the skin, and with the slightly
hollowed base resting upon a small prominence upon the
bone of the skull, whence it can easily be detached ; the
feet are each provided with three broad nail-like hoofs,
so that the track is always an unmistakable one.

Formerly it was considered justifiable to split up the
black rhinoceros into several species, according to the
relative lengths of the two horns ; but it is now known
that these variations are merely individual eccentricities,
and there is but one species throughout Africa.

At the present day this animal is almost extinct in the
Union of South Africa. A few still exist in the north-
eastern Transvaal, in the dense bush which extends on
both sides of the Portuguese border, between the Sing-
witsi River and the Limpopo, and also in the Sabi Bush,
on the south bank of that river, where for many years
one only was believed to exist, so closely had fear of man
induced the animals to remain within the shelter of the
thick wait-a-bit thorns. Actually there may be a dozen
or more present in the two districts, which, so far as the
British side is concerned, are within a Game Reserve ; but
this small number holds out little hope of ultimate survival
without the aid of fresh blood. The presence of a con-
siderable number of rhinoceroses at no great distance in
Portuguese territory, however, encourages the hope that
recruiting may be possible, if indeed it has not already
taken place. On the Maputa River between Bella Vista
and the Pongola junction, the road passes through a
large extent of very thick bush or forest, and here rhinos,
which have been for a good many years strictly preserved
by the Portuguese authorities, are pretty numerous, and
are reported to inspire a good deal of terror in the natives

RHINOCEROSES 31

who travel by that route, though it is not added that any
one has ever been actually attacked.

Rhinoceroses have been increasing of late years in
Northern Zululand, thanks to protection. In Southern
Rhodesia, where they were once so widely spread, they
are now confined to a few districts ; but a good many
still exist in the Zambezi Company's Territories north of
Beira. North and west of the Zambezi the species is
sparingly distributed through parts of Northern Rhodesia,
Nyasaland, Angola, and Mogambique. They become
more numerous towards the north, and until quite lately
were found in great numbers over most of British East
Africa, wherever the country was high and dry. The
fact of their favouring the open, treeless plains, and so
catching the eye of the man with a gun on every occasion,
soon, however, thinned their numbers, while their un-
pleasant habit, when alarmed, of dashing through
caravans, to the great detriment of camp equipment, and
terror of porters, led to their being considered a nuisance.
The range of the species further extends to Somaliland,
and the Southern Sudan, as far as the east bank of the
White Nile, in the close vicinity of which, however, they
are not met with in any great numbers.

Unlike the other species, the black rhinoceros is essen-
tially a browser. Leaves, twigs, and small roots form
his food. To the casual observer the fact that he favours
so greatly the treeless plains of parts of East Africa might
point to a diet of grass ; but a closer examination of the
ground reveals the presence of a small plant, which has
in reality formed the attraction. When disturbed the
black rhinoceros trots away with his head and tail both
elevated ; the calves follow their mothers instead of
preceding them as in the other variety. The beast feeds
during the night, and by day spends its time sleeping in

32 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

covert ; though in East Africa individuals are often seen
standing out right in the open throughout the day. It
is often accompanied by rhinoceros birds which give the
alarm on the approach of enemies. Sight is poor, but
hearing appears very fairly good, and the sense of scent
is most acute.

The black rhinoceros has acquired a reputation for
savage aggressiveness which the experience of the best-
known hunters would by no means support. Considering
the enormous numbers of rhinos which were killed in
former days in South Africa, and the considerable quantity
annually shot in East Africa and elsewhere at the present
time, the number of accidents was, and is, ridiculously
small. The rhino is a formidable-looking brute, and its
appearance when bearing down to the accompaniment
of snorts, reminiscent of a steam-engine, is not reassuring ;
but it appears probable that many of these so-called
charges of unwounded animals are merely efforts to escape
from what they consider a tight place. If suddenly
disturbed it is generally agreed that the rhino will often,
by accident or design, come straight in the direction of
the aggressor ; but if the latter gets quickly out of the
way it will usually rush right on, obviously seeking only
to escape. In occasional encounters with the animals
within the Game Reserves, the writer has always found
that a gentle tapping on a tree or some other slight noise,
insufficient seriously to startle the animal, has always
sent it off at once ; and the same experiment has had
similar results on the occasions when these animals have
been encountered in other parts of the continent. No
doubt there are old, or ill-conditioned rhinos just as there
are in the case of other species, but, taken on the whole,
the general evidence points to the wild rushes, frequently
so disastrous to transport of various kinds, being induced

RHINOCEROSES 33

more by sudden alarm, coupled with blindness and
stupidity, than by natural ferocity.

Rather an amusing incident occurred recently to a
sportsman in the Sudan, where one rhino only may be
shot upon a licence. Having heard overnight that tracks
had been seen not far from the station, he sallied forth
at dawn and quickly found them. Before he had followed
the spoor for long, a rhino jumped up from behind a bush
close at hand, and he killed it with the first shot. As he
fired, another, obviously a male, also got up near by,
and after one glance round, made off as fast as possible,
behaving, as the hunter remarked, " like a perfect gentle-
man." He had just time to confirm his fear that the
animal he had shot was a female, when her calf, a beast
about as big as a donkey, suddenly arrived on the scene,
and at once taking in the situation, proceeded to scatter
the party. The natives took to trees, while the sports-
man, finding a convenient ant-heap, proceeded to perch
himself on the top thereof, hoping that shouts and the
hurling of stones and pieces of earth would serve to scare
away the bereaved offspring.

Oblivious of such trifles, the little beast continued to
run to and fro between its dead mother and the ant-heap,
squealing furiously and continuously, making sufficiently
clear its intentions towards the occupant of the latter.
He indeed felt himself in rather a predicament ; apart
from his desire not to injure his small assailant, he had
already shot the one animal allowed under his licence,
and breach of regulations, however afterwards condoned,
imply considerable trouble and official correspondence.
At last the situation became an impossible one ; the
noonday sun was blazing down on the shadeless ant-heap,
and the annoyance of the infant increased rather than
diminished. So at last the sportsman decided to risk a

34 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

solid bullet from his small bore, and taking a steady aim
at a fleshy but non- vital portion of the little beast's
anatomy, he fired. For a time the noise redoubled, and
at first it seemed that an ascent of the ant-heap was
meditated ; but eventually discretion overcame valour,
and at the end of a really strenuous two hours the sports-
man was able to descend and stretch his cramped limbs.
In the bush of the eastern Transvaal the old bones and
skulls of rhinos are even now often seen, showing how
very numerous this animal must once have been in the
locality. On the Athi Plains of East Africa, where but
a few years ago they existed in such numbers as to form
a constant source of annoyance to travellers, they are
now only occasionally encountered. Its size, stupidity
and want of manners all render it certain that the black
rhinoceros is soon fated to vanish entirely from all his
more accessible haunts. Although its best friend could
not defend its existence upon grounds of possible utility
to man, the total disappearance of such a strange old-
world type would be none the less regrettable, and care
should be taken that all declared game sanctuaries contain
sufficient specimens to permit of the due preservation of
the species.

CHAPTER IV

ZEBRAS

There are at the present day three distinct species of
zebras inhabiting the continent of Africa : Grevy's, the
True or Mountain, and Burchell's, the last comprising a
number of sub-species. All zebras are strictly sociable
animals, fond of open plains, hills, or lightly forested
country, and are essentially grass feeders. Like the

ZEBRAS 35

rest of the horse tribe, they prefer rather a dry climate,
and are accustomed to roll in dust or sand. They are
regular drinkers, and are seldom found at any very great
distance from water.

Various experiments have at different times been con-
ducted with a view to the domestication of zebras, but
these cannot be said to have been eminently satisfactory
so far as they have gone. The deficiency in the zebra's
forehand puts him to a great extent out of court as a
riding animal, and for continuous traction he has been
found to be incapable of competing with mules, or even
donkeys ; in fact, he has shown himself " soft " by com-
parison. On the other hand, he has proved perfectly
tractable, even when captured neaily half grown. Captain
Hayes relates having handled and broken into saddle
within two days an old zebra belonging to the True or
Mountain type, a species generally believed to be much
less amenable than the Burchell variety. Mr. Zeedeberg.
of Pietersberg, in the Transvaal, for some years used
zebras in the stage-coaches running to Tuli, and found
them satisfactoiy, except for their serious want of stamina.
As is well known, the Hon. Walter Rothschild used to
drive a team of zebras in London, and at various times
and places these animals have been so made use of.

The underlying weakness of all these experiments, in
so far as they were designed to supply an answer to the
question as to the permanent utility of zebras as beasts
of burden, seems to lie in the fact that they were not
persisted with for a long enough time. Horses and
asses have thousands of years of domestication behind
them, and have inherited from a long line of ancestors,
specially trained and often artificially fed, traits of
endurance which it would be unfair to expect to find in
purely wild animals. The mule unites in himself many

36 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

of the best physical quahties of both the donkey and
the horse, and has for that reason long occupied
a high position as a transport animal. But the
zebra, in physical conformation, is sturdier and more
compact than the mule or donkey, besides being fleeter
than either ; he has besides the immense advantage
of being entirely immune from horse-sickness and
nagana disease, those equine scourges of Africa ; there-
fore his adoption as a transport animal in many
places would confer great advantages. But in order
to test his usefulness thoroughly, it is absolutely
necessary that the experiments should be persisted in
through several generations of animals born in captivity,
and specially fed and worked, in order, as far as possible,
to bring them on level terms with their competitors.
It is obvious that upon economic grounds it would be
necessary to make any general use of them only in such
districts as are unsuitable for other equines, and for the
success of the experiment it would be desirable to retain
them permanently within these districts, otherwise
absence for a generation or two from the influence of
infective agents might very possibly destroy their
immunity.

Both in British and in German East Africa experiments
in capturing Burchell's zebras on a large scale have been
made. Large and strong enclosures, with funnel-shaped
entrances, were constructed, and into these were driven
several herds. Men then took up their quarters within
the enclosures, to accustom the animals to their presence,
and in a few days not only the young but the full-grown
ones had grown so perfectly unconcerned, that in a short
time it was possible to handle them with ease. As regards
British territory, the experiment was put an end to by
the death of most of the animals from a disease which

ZEBRAS 37

was probably fostered and quickly communicated
through the comparatively restricted range available,
while some antidote, which no doubt is easily found where
the area is sufficiently large, may have grown in in-
sufficient quantity to meet the requirements of the stock
on the ground. I understand that the same trouble is,
or was, in less degree, present among the animals in the
Duke of Bedford's unique collection at Woburn, and there
can be little doubt that this is one of nature's methods
of restricting the overgrowth of species within limited
areas.

Grevy's Zebra. Grevy's zebra is an inhabitant of
Abyssinia, Somaliland, and the Lake Rudolph district.
It is the largest of all the tribe, attaining a shoulder
height of nearly fifteen hands, and is very closely striped
right down to the hoofs. It seems a beast that might
well be worth experimenting with for domestic purposes.

The Mountain Zebra. The True or Mountain zebra
is the smallest of the group of striped horses, standing
some twelve hands at the shoulder. It was always a
local animal, never having been found beyond the limits
of the Cape Colony and parts of German South-West
Africa, though types of the Burchell species, showing
a certain likeness, have been noticed elsewhere. The
species suffered so much during the past century from
shooting at the hands of the colonists, that its range is
now restricted to a few isolated districts, and its complete
disappearance is possible in the not very remote future^
Its principal safeguard, in addition to the protectiof
now afforded it, lies in the fact that it confines itself to
the more inaccessible portions of the mountain ranges,
where it runs in small troops, and is generally extremely
wary. It has often been written of as a very fierce and
untamable creature, but, as these were qualities which

38 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

the hunters of former days were fond of ascribing to
most of the animals which they pursued, without any
very solid foundation for the assertion, the Mountain
zebra, though doubtless less easily tamed than Burchell's,
need not necessarily be judged on this evidence. In fact.
Captain Hayes' successful breaking of a full-grown male
of the species to saddle is in itself sufficient to show
that with proper, quiet handling it can be brought into
subjection.

Burchell's Zebra. Burchell's zebra is by far the
most numerous and widely distributed of the group. So
extended is its range that it has become divided into a
number of local varieties or sub-species, which merge
almost imperceptibly the one into the other, though the
extreme types differ considerably in their marking. The
most northerly form is that known as Grant's, which
extends from Southern Abyssinia and the Egyptian
Sudan on the north, through Uganda and British East
Africa, until it links up with Crawshay's zebra of Nyasa-
land and Northern Rhodesia. Both these varieties have
strongly contrasted black and white markings (without
a trace of shadow stripes), which continue down to the
fetlocks. Upon crossing the Zambezi, the impediment
offered by that waterway to the free migration of animals,
and its consequent bearing upon type, is evident in the
presence of what are known as " shadow stripes," that
is to say, light brown bands showing upon the white
ground which separates the black markings.

Burchell's zebras are naturally so sociable, that not
only are they themselves often found in very large herds,
but the herds themselves are constantly found associated
with other animals, especially in the Transvaal, with
blue wildebeest ; single individuals however, seldom, seem
to join themselves to troops of antelopes. Near Nakurn,

ZEBRAS WITH TSESSEBE BUT L

ZEBKAS AT W ATEKING-PLACE

(Sabi Game Reserve)

40 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

in East Africa, the size of the herds is still astonishing.
Fully a thousand may at times be seen in one body,
while the plain for miles is covered with smaller troops.
Latterly, in the Transvaal Game Reserve, where for a
long time zebras were found scattered about in small
family parties, they have similarly drawn together ; so
that a piece of country one day nearly deserted is on the
next covered with hundreds of animals.

Although in South Africa more shy than the wilde-
beests, with which they are so often found, and always
of the two the first to move off, zebras sometimes
betray the most intense curiosity. Where accustomed
to be unmolested by man, they have a way of stampeding
past a train of pack donkeys at close quarters, most
disconcerting to the latter, which are only too inclined
to follow suit, to the great detriment of any camping
material wherewith they may be loaded.

Zebras are not often noticed lying down ; but Major
Eraser, of the Game Reserve, relates having observed a
whole herd in this position about the middle of the day,
in October or November ; a number of foals were present,
which were chasing each other about through the recum-
bent troop, occasionally jumping over their mothers.
The usual drinking time is at night or very early morning,
but in the cold weather in the Transvaal I have noticed
them watering pretty regularly about midday. Later
in the year, after a hot day, they sometimes drink at
sunset, and in this case, no doubt, graze at no great
distance from the water during the night.

Although quick with his heels upon occasion, the offen-
sive and defensive weapon of the zebra is primarily his
teeth. If a herd is quietly observed, it will be noticed
that a great deal of biting goes on amongst the members,
but very little kicking, and a tame animal which happens

ZEBRAS 41

to be at all vicious always runs at the intruder with his
mouth open, or teeth bared. The cry of the Burchell
zebra is a shrill " wa-wa-wa," repeated several times.
They are rather noisy animals when assembled near the
drinking-places, and their call is one of the commonest
night sounds in a game country. They are very liable to
panic and stampedes, and their custom, when frightened,
of dashing through wire fences and other artificial
obstacles forms, in East Africa, one of the principal
causes of complaint against them.

Once when the writer was following the tracks of some
lions, a small troop of zebras, a little distance in front,
caught sight of the cats at close quarters, though they
were invisible to us, and the sudden headlong rush they
made was a thing to -remember. Conduct of another
kind was observed by one of the rangers a few years
ago. As he was riding along the bank of the Olifants
River he suddenly heard zebras making a great noise just
in front, and, coming into a clearing, he found that three
lions had just pulled down a mare, but had not yet killed
her. The rest of the troop were standing some twenty
paces from the lions, facing them in a semicircle, very
excited and making a great noise, but showing no dis-
position to bolt ; the foal was intermediate between its
dam and the herd. On the ranger firing at one of the
lions the zebras at once stampeded, but the young animal
waited about for its mother, which, though badly clawed,
was able to get up and make off also.

Another ranger came on a lion and two lionesses
taking their midday siesta within a hundred yards of a
troop of zebras. Neither party was taking the least
notice of the other, so far as he could judge. One lion
was lying on its back, with all four legs in the air, like a
cat before the fire, while the zebras were standing about

42. ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

apparently half asleep. The lions must have been clearly
visible to them. Incidents such as this illustrate the
perfect understanding which the wild creatiures have of
each other's ways, and how far man is from a clear
comprehension of them.

We once lost all the horses from Sabi Bridge for two
days, owing to their being stampeded by a solitary zebra,
which galloped off, followed by them. Although they
kept close behind him, it was remarkable that when at
length discovered, nearly twenty miles away, they were
vigorously opposing all his efforts to come close to and
join them. There are many cases, however, of single
runaway horses being found in conjunction with troops
of zebras, and this is still more true of mules, which seem
to have a better understanding with them. In fact, it is no
easy matter to keep mules from stampeding when there
are zebras about, and several have been permanently
lost in the low country in this manner during the last few
years. A horse will often come home again after his
escapade, but a mule very seldom. Therefore, any one
travelling with transport animals where zebras are
numerous would do well to see that the native herds
attend to their duties when the animals are at grass.

I have once heard of a perfectly white animal having
been seen. Amongst a herd of Burchell zebra was
noticed an animal which appeared to be a white mule or
donkey, but which, on closer inspection, proved to be a
zebra, so far as could be seen, quite devoid of all markings.

The African wild ass inhabits the dry countries to
the east of the Nile, from about 17° to 5° north latitude.
It is grey in colour, with black markings on the legs and
back. Two local races are recognized.

THE HIPPOPOTAMUS 43

CHAPTER V

THE HIPPOPOTAMUS

The Hippopotamus. The range of the hippopotamus
once extended to the whole of the Ethiopian region,
wherever there was suitable water, and also down the
Nile to its mouth. At the present day it is not found in
the latter river until some considerable distance above
Khartoum ; but south of the sudd, and especially on the
Bahr-el-Ghebel, between Nimule and Lake Albert, it
becomes quite numerous. It exists east and south of
this point, on all the lakes and waterways of equatorial
Africa ; although the fact that it may be shot without
a licence on the Nile, and on Lakes Victoria and Albert,
is tending to reduce its numbers in these particular
localities.

On the middle and lower Zambezi hippopotami
were, until a veiy short time ago, exceedingly numerous.
In 1898, while navigating the former in a steam-launch,
we used in places to come on large herds, sometimes
consisting of twenty or thirty animals, which practically
filled up the whole channel of the river, and so indifferent
were they to our presence, that not until the steam-
whistle was brought into play would they consent to
duck their heads and allow us to pass. At that time,
too, they were fairly plentiful on the lower reaches of the
river between Tete and Chinde ; but the cruel and
unsportsmanlike practice of shooting at them from
passing steamers has almost entirely destroyed or driven
them away from the lower Zambezi and the Shire, and
in 1908, when coming down from Port Herald to Chinde,
not one was seen. They were plentiful ten or twelve
years ago on the Kwando and other western tributaries.

44 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

which, consisting of a deep channel, bordered on one
side by extensive reed areas, and on the other by
grassy wooded banks, are by their nature well suited
to the habits of the animals. In all probability, little
has occurred to disturb them since that date in those
unget-at-able places.

South of the Zambezi hippopotami are still found in
suitable localities in Southern Rhodesia, though to the
west and south-west shooting and the desiccation of the
country have greatly restricted their range. On the
Limpopo and Olifants Rivers, both in British and Portu-
guese territories, there are still considerable numbers.
Near the junction of the latter with the Letaba, when, at
certain seasons of the year, the rivers are full and pools
adjacent to the banks frequent, there may be seen a really
astonishing collection of these animals. During the dry
season they seem to go down in search of deeper water,
and, getting into Portuguese territory, suffer to some
extent from native attacks. The parallel rivers — Sabi,
Crocodile, Komati, Lomati, Usutu, and Pongola — are all
well stocked. On the Komati, near the boundary, a
herd of over twenty has been carefully preserved for the
last twelve years, and they have become so tame that
belated passengers, meeting them ashore of an evening,
find that, so far from giving place to human beings, they
desire to assert their right to the path.

In the numerous pans of Amatongaland, near the
Pongola, there are great numbers of hippos which are
partially protected by a £io licence, and this forms very
nearly the most southerly point at which the species
now exists. Some seven years ago more than twenty
of them in the largest of these pools — the Ebumbe Pan —
died within a few days from some unexplained cause.
A veterinary officer was sent down to investigate, but

THE HIPPOPOTAMUS 45

apparently without result ; so whether they were poisoned
by natives, who were at that time suffering from the
starvation consequent on a prolonged drought, and may
have wanted the meat, or whether the reason lay in some
harmful influence exercised by the partial drying up of
the edges of the pan and effect on the food-supply, must
remain a mystery. At all events, no more died, and no
sign of sickness has at any time since been noticed
amongst the survivors. In the rivers of the Transvaal
high veld, the Orange Free State and Cape Colony, there
are no hippopotami at the present day, and the last
existing in Natal, which were preserved in Sea Cow Lake,
near Durban, were destroyed in 1898, on the plea that
they had become very destructive.

Hippopotami are thoroughly aquatic animals, and
when frightened or disturbed, at once make for their
natural element with all speed. During the day, and in
places where they are unmolested, they sleep by pre-
ference in rather shallow water, the herd grouped closely
together, their great heads sometimes resting on each
other's backs. They may even be found occasionally
asleep upon mud-banks. In more frequented localities
they float in deep water, the nostrils alone protruding
above the surface ; or they rise every five minutes or so
for the purpose of breathing. Towards evening they
leave the water and go ashore to feed, travelling by the
well-trodden " hippo paths," which, wherever these
animals are plentiful, intersect in all directions the bush
and reeds bordering the stream. Although, where food
happens to be scarce, hippopotami are capable of
travelling consideiable distances from the water during
the night, under normal circumstances the limit is under
a mile, and they always get back to their old quarters
before morning, unless they have sought and found a

46 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

new abode. An animal belated on his feeding-ground a
long way from his usual day haunt would seek the nearest
suitable pool until nightfall. On the Transvaal Sabi,
where, though not numerous, the beasts are very tame,
they are not infrequently to be seen wandering about,
Or resting on one or other of the shady islands which
abound in mid-stream.

The food consists of young shoots, grasses and reeds.
The hippopotamus does not grub for roots or eat fruit.
It is capable of doing great damage to cultivated lands,
not only by actually eating the crops, but by the manner
in which it tramples down and destroys things. Con-
sequently its conduct in this respect causes a great deal
of complaint, and, where protected by law, natives and
others often seek the easiest means of prevention by
applying to have the erring animals killed — ^incidentally
looking forward to a big feed of good meat and a plentiful
supply of the valuable hide and fat.

As a matter of fact, the lowest fence, provided that it
is solid and upright, will always stop a hippo. Like a
pig, he never attempts to step over an obstacle, and does
not push through an impediment which he recognizes as
artificial. Natives of many tribes in Africa are so
naturally indolent that they prefer to risk any loss rather
than take a little trouble to prevent its occurrence.
Therefore, the so-called fences often seen intervening
between crops planted close to the water's edge, and the
water itself, positively invite attack, in that they consist
merely of a few thorn bushes or branches laid on the
ground, often not even touching each other. That,
under such circumstances, the crops suffer can hardly
afford cause for surprise. Among the few African peoples
who do go to the trouble of constructing strong obstacles
the losses appear to be trifling.

THE HIPPOPOTAMUS

I\ II '. Bond, Photo.

A HIPPO POOL
(Sabi Game Reserve)

48 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

A few years ago, a gentleman owning a farm on the
Lomati River in the Transvaal, having a stream frontage,
suffered annually considerable pecuniary loss, owing to
the manner in which the local troop of hippos were
accustomed to raid his young mealies. Although legally
free to shoot the animals if caught in the act, he never-
theless refrained in the most laudable way from doing
so, and approached the Government with a view to
receiving relief. Eventually a sum was detached from
the Game Preservation Vote, and with it a barbed-wire
fence of three strands (only some three feet high) was
constructed, enclosing the part of the farm facing the
river. After the next harvest, the present writer had a
letter from the proprietor, wherein he expressed his
entire satisfaction with the fence, and stated that the
hippos had never made the slightest attempt to break
through this not very formidable impediment. Other
instances of a similar nature might be quoted to indicate
that there are other means of checking the inroads of
this animal than by destroying him ; but the latter
method is so much easier, and withal so far more in
harmony with traditional African custom than a little
hard work, unaccompanied by the tempting induce-
ment of meat and hide, that it is the one usually
adopted.

The specific gravity of the hippopotamus is such that
it is able to walk along the bottoms of the rivers with ease,
risirig to the surface to breathe at intervals of about five
or six minutes. It is an extraordinarily powerful swimmer
and can force its way upstream in face of the strongest
currents.

The young hippo, while too small to defend itself, is
carried on its mother's back while in the water. Croco-
diles would no doubt be serious enemies to the calves

THE HIPPOPOTAMUS 49

were their dams not at hand to protect them, and there
seems to be Httle doubt that about calving time, either
the mother herself or others of the herd drive all the
crocodiles away from the vicinity of the pool in which
they happen to be lying. I noticed on two occasions on
the Sabi, that when a certain deep pool, always the haunt
of several crocodiles, became temporarily the resting-place
of breeding hippo, the crocodiles completely disappeared,
though they were subsequently found there when the
other animals had departed.

The cows are, not unnaturally, inclined to be vicious
when their calves are small, and it is then that they
sometimes attack canoes and boats, perhaps seeing in
them strange monsters having designs on their little ones.
The old bulls, too, not infrequently act in a similar manner ;
but probably most of the accidents which occur are due
to animals, either in play, or by chance, rising beneath
the boat, and so capsizing it. Except when they are
wounded, hippopotami, having acted thus, seldom
actually pursue human beings in the water ; nevertheless,
it is no light matter to be upset in the middle of an African
river, swarming, as most of them do, with crocodiles.
The few hippos remaining in the pools just above the
Victoria Falls have become very savage and aggressive,
through continuous persecution, and accidents to boats,
often with fatal results to the occupants, are not at all
uncommon. Hunting hippopotami from a boat is
therefore one of the most exciting sports imaginable, just
as shooting at them from the shore is one of the tamest.
Some of the Nilotic tribes harpoon them with a lance to
which is fastened, by a long cord, a piece of the very light
ambatch wood. The latter acts as a float, and indicates
the exact position of the animal. The hunters then pursue
it, spearing the beast every time it rises to the surface to

50 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

breathe, until at last it becomes exhausted, and sinks
dying to the bottom of the river.

The hearing, sight and scent of the hippopotamus are
all acute ; but, like many other wild animals, he suffers
from an inextinguishable curiosity, and cannot resist
putting up his head to have a momentary stare at a
passing boat, a weakness which often costs the poor
beast his life. His voice once heard can never be mis-
taken or forgotten : it consists of one deep, roaring grunt,
followed by four or five shorter ones in quick succession,
and is quite alarming when heard for the first time.

When lying with head partially protruding, a hippo-
potamus is often most persistently attended by certain
large biting flies. That an animal possessing so thick a
hide should have an attraction for any blood-sucking
insects seems at first sight remarkable ; but probably
the soft skin about the eyelids and elsewhere is easily
penetrable by their long probosces.

A cross old bull hippo has curious dislikes at times,
and one of his pet aversions seems to be a camp fire in
his vicinity at night. Ranger Wolhuter was once en-
camped on a pool of the Ngwanitzi River. About
10 P.M. a well-known old hippo bull which was always
found near this particular spot began loudly to voice
his objection to the fires. After making a great deal of
noise in the pool, he eventually landed and began to
approach, grunting all the time, and displaying every
symptom of rage. A horse and a number of pack donkeys
were in camp, in addition to Wolhuter and his native
servants, and began to show signs of considerable un-.
easiness.^A shot or two fired over the beast's head
concerned him not at all, and when he had approached
within less than twenty paces, as a last resort the fires
were put out. This had a magical effect, and, having

THE HIPPOPOTAMUS 51

apparently in his own opinion thus duly enforced his
authority as guardian of the pool, the great beast turned
and went slowly grumbling away, to be seen no more
that night. The camp was moved next day.

The same animal had, a little after this occurrence, a
rather exciting evening with three lions. They must
have been very hungry, and they caught Wolhuter's
friend at some distance from the water. The noise was
deafening, and all the details of the struggle could be
distinctly heard at the camp, over half a mile distant.
In the morning it was clearly indicated how the hippo
had trudged along, until the water was reached, carr3dng
the lions on his back, or dragging them after him as
they made unavailing attempts to get their claws through
his skin : he had then plunged in, and one of the lions
had apparently fallen with him, to scramble out quickly,
doubtless glad to escape unharmed. There were no
blood marks, nor any sign of the hippo having been in
any way injured ; probably indeed, except in the shock
to his already none too amiable temper, he suffered little
inconvenience. Of course the lions must have been hard
driven before attempting to tackle so formidable a brute
as a bull hippopotamus, albeit out of his natural element :
one snap of his huge jaws would have sufficed to crush
the biggest of them into a pulp ; but no doubt they
relied on their agility, and his relative clumsiness on
land, to preserve them from harm.

In following hippo paths through dense reeds or bush,
some vigilance should be exercised, as there is always
the chance of one of the animals being on shore : when,
if suddenly startled, he will rush headlong towards the
water, by the nearest path, in a manner distinctly em-
barrassing to any one who happens to be in the way.

A most delightful animal was " Sikabo "—the young

52 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

hippo given a few years ago by Lewanika, paramount
chief of the Barotse, to Lord Selborne, and presented
by him to the Transvaal Zoological Gardens. For a
considerable time he used to take the air in the grounds
in the wake of his native keeper, accepting in the most
friendly spirit any attentions paid to him ; when he grew
too big to go out in this way, his races with his attendant
round the edge of his tank, and his somewhat elephantine
gambols in and out of the water, always formed a great
attraction to the public. He once nearly paid a penalty
for his friendliness when an ill-conditioned youth threw
an empty soda-water bottle into his mouth. Luckily
the native in attendance had the presence of mind to
dart in his hand and snatch it out before the jaws closed,
or the results would have been disastrous, and probably
fatal. When he was being brought down the Zambezi,
Sikabo used to swim behind the canoe containing his
attendant. On sighting any of his own kin, he would
at once seek the bank, and travel by land until well
past them.

The whips made of the skin of the hippopotamus,
variously known in Africa as sjamboks, kibokos, kour-
bashes and so on, have considerable value, especially in
South Africa at the present day, when they have become
rarer than of old, and this naturally puts a premium on
the destruction of the species where not specially pro-
tected. The ivory had apparently at one time a greater
commercial value than is the case at present.

The mention of the animal's hide reminds me of an inci-
dent said to have occurred during the South African War,
when a number of troops were proceeding up country
from Beira. It is related that an enterprising local
gentleman, having cut a number of strips of hippo skin
into six-inch sections, went round the carriages, as the

WILD PIGS 53

train containing the soldiers stopped at a station, and
sold all his wares at a shilling each, as genuine " biltong "
or dried meat ! The subsequent remarks of the troops,
composed principally of Canadians and Australians, are
not related : probably the enterprising trader was
fortunate in being too far away to be reached.

Like the rhinoceros, this beast, though of no apparent
use to man, is a survival, now confined to Africa, of an
earlier era in the earth's history, and one which it would
be sad to see disappear.

Another species known as the Pigmy Hippopotamus
is found in West Africa, in the neighbourhood of Liberia.

CHAPTER VI

WILD PIGS

The Warthog. Writers describing the warthog
generally commence by enlarging upon the hideousness
of his appearance. Beauty is of course a relative term,
and it must be admitted that the animal in question has
neither the gentle comeliness of the gazelle nor the
lissom grace of the cat tribe. At the same time, to say
he is repulsive in appearance is a little hard. Quaint,
no doubt, and so out of the common in featuie that his
appearance causes surprise on first acquaintance, but
why hideous ?

The species is spread all over the Ethiopian region,
but is now extinct south of the Orange River. It favours
lightly forested country, and is never at any great dis-
tance from water. It is generally seen in small parties,
the boar and sow accompanied by the last litter ; when
the latter have become about half grown the boar appears
generally to desert his family, and thenceforth the

54 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

females are seen solely accompanied by their offspring,
or by such of them as have survived.

The little ones are extraordinarily active almost from
birth, and I recollect riding after a sounder once when
the youngsters, under a week old, could move as fast as
a native could run, and, but for the horses, must have

WAKTHOG IN NET

escaped. There were faint indications of dark transverse
stripes on some new-born animals which I once found,
though they gradually disappeared within a few days.
It is the only occasion on which I have ever noticed
anything of the sort, and the occurrence was so entirely
opposed to all previous ideas on the subject that I after-
wards took the opportunity to question a number of old
natives at different times and places regarding it. The
general impression conveyed by their answers was that

WILD PIGS 55

this phenomenon is now and then, though very rarely,
observed in new-born warthogs.

The habit of holding the tail erect, when on the run,
is common to the young from birth, as well as to the
older animals. There has been some discussion as to the
position of the little tail tuft. Millais in his charming
" Breath from the Veld," insists that it is pendent in
a forward direction. Having taken some trouble to
observe what actually occurs, the writer can confidently
state that the tuft actually wobbles about like a flag,
sometimes fore and sometimes aft, but when the animal
is stationary with vertical tail previous to departure, the
tuft is often nearly or quite perpendicular. Warthogs
often lie up during the day in holes or in thick bush ;
in cool weather, however, they may be seen on the move
at any hour. They are very fond of occupying the holes
of ant-bears and porcupines, into which they retire back-
wards, so that care should be taken in approaching a
recess believed to contain one of these animals.

Though by no means of savage disposition, the warthog
possesses much of the courage of his family, and fights
bravely when cornered. Lions and leopards when at-
tacking them are believed to try always to seize them
from behind, to avoid the swing of the tushes. Natives
say that a leopard does not care about attacking an old
boar. Dogs, to most of which the sight of a warthog is
as a red rag to a bull, often suffer severely when it has been
brought to bay, and, in the Game Reserve, some of our
animals have been terribly cut about at different times.
I remember once on the Upper Nile suddenly disturbing
a female with four young ones, three of which " crouched "
instead of running away, and I was much struck by the
gallant way in which the sow, finding most of her family
missing, turned and came back in my direction, to pause

56 ; ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

and retreat only when all had rejoined her. I once
saw a female warthog charge a big male leopard that had
attacked her offspring. The cat turned tail at once, fled,
closely pursued, for about thirty yards, and then sprang
into a tree. From this sanctuary it growled and snarled
at its adversary, but showed no disposition to descend.

The usual pace of the warthog when running away is
a fast trot, the head, as well as the tail, held high ; it
is seldom that it breaks into a gallop, and then but for a
short distance. Occasionally, solitary boars are to be
seen in conjunction with antelopes or zebras, but generally
feed at a little distance from the herd. Warthogs are
gifted with a very keen sense of smell and acute hearing,
but the eyesight appears to be rather deficient. Favour-
ing open forest country, they eat grass and also dig for
roots, though they do not turn up the soil to the same
extent as bush pigs. The yam-like roots of some of the
acacias appear to be sought, and the bark is sometimes
stripped from the stems of the bushes. I never found
that they attempted to do any damage to growing crops
of any kind, and I believe them to be in every way harm-
less, though they are sometimes accused of egg eating.
They are very silent animals, only occasionally uttering
a low grunt.

The Bush Pig. The novice may easily distinguish
the bush pig from the warthog, by his reddish-grey colour,
the long pencilled tufts on the extremities of his ears, and
the fact that, when running, both head and tail are held
low. He is also a much more noisy animal, and grunts and
squeals much like a domestic pig. He ranges practically
all over Africa south of the Sahara, and, owing to his
secretive habits, is likely to have a long life as a species.

Several varieties of the bush pig have been named ;
but their habits are probably nowhere greatly dissimilar. '

WILD PIGS

57

The following notes have reference to the animal as
found in South Africa.

Bush pigs lie up by day in very thick bush or other
covert, so dense that a man has difficulty in forcing his
way through, and has constantly to stoop, or even crawl.

BUSH PIG

During the night they leave shelter and proceed to seek
their food : this consists principally of roots and wild
fruits ; but, like domestic pigs, they are largely omni-
vorous, and eggs, reptiles, insects and carrion are all
devoured. They do immense damage to cultivated lands,
not only eating, but wasting and destroying growing
crops of all kinds. Owing to their strictly nocturnal

58 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

habits, they are exceedingly difficult to bring to book.
Trapping is seldom efficacious, and sitting up for them
by moonlight only occasionally effective. Sometimes
in the very early morning they may be found feeding
in the open, but by sunrise they are almost always back
in the densest brake. They are more sociable than
warthogs, and are sometimes seen in quite considerable
troops. Where a few of these pigs have been feeding
during the night, the ground, sometimes for half an acre,
is left torn up as if by a plough, while broken bits of roots
and branches are scattered in all directions, and over-
turned bushes and other debris complete the scene of
confusion.

Bush pigs are animals of considerable courage, and
charge fiercely when wounded or bayed by dogs, so that
under such circumstances they must be approached with
caution. They are partial to ostrich eggs, when oppor-
tunity offers, and for that and other reasons are con-
sidered as vermin in the Transvaal : not that their
existence, as a species, is in the least threatened thereby,
or their numbers likely even to be appreciably reduced.

The Forest Hog. The following notes on the habits of
the giant hog were made by the writer while in East Africa
recently. The very small degree of information at present
to hand concerning this animal must be the excuse for
offering them, as they are of the roughest character.

Giant hogs are found in the dense forests of East Africa
at heights of 7000 or 8000 feet. They go about singly
(probably old boars) or in parties of from eight to ten.
They like to root about in much the same manner as the
South African bush pig, though their excavations are still
deeper. They favour the thickest jungle, in which they
have regular " runs " or tunnels excavated through the
dense undergrowth. These tunnels are from two to

WILD PIGS 59

three feet high, but the pigs can, upon occasion, squeeze
under much lower places, indeed so low, that to get
through a man has to make his way extended flat upon
his face.

The beasts do not seem to travel in the bush far from
their regular runs ; consequently, when disturbed, it is
generally impossible to see them, as they dash down
some covered way. The tunnels open out at intervals
into glades, and small places in the bush are used as
wallows, as well as for rooting ; four or five roadways
often open into these from all sides. There is an obvious
love of much wallowing in soft soil, and at frequent
intervals along the streams are very large mud baths,
often measuring as much as twenty feet by ten, generally
in places where the overhanging banks form natural
excavations. The floors of these are one sea of deep
thick mud, evidently habitually used by families of pigs
to roll about in, as the whole mass is always freshly
trampled and is pounded into a sort of brown porridge.

The tushes are sharpened upon trees, and I saw marks
on a trunk at a measured height of four feet from the
ground (of course to effect this the pig may have been
standing on his hind legs, with his fore ones resting
against the tree). The usual pace when disturbed is a
trot, but when suddenly alarmed they go headlong
down the tunnels, making a very loud crashing. They
utter deep grunts, much like those of an ordinary pig,
though louder and more resonant.

The Water Chevrotain. This is the only African
representative of the little so-called " mouse deer."
Although ruminants, there are certain structural differ-
ences which cause the family to form a distinct group.
They are tiny animals standing not much more than
twelve inches at the shoulder, and of a brownish colour,

6o ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

profusely spotted and striped with white or yellow.
They have no horns, but instead, the males are provided
with large pig-like tusks in the upper jaw. They are
found throughout the forest region of Central Africa,
where they frequent the banks of streams, swimming
and diving freely in the water.

CHAPTER VII

THE GIRAFFE

Dr. Johnson's definition of the giraffe as "an
Abyssinian animal, taller than the elephant, but not so
thick," requires considerable amplification at the present
day, when scientists have not only divided the genus
into two distinct species, but have classed the first
of these into no less than ten sub-species or varieties,
something after the manner adopted with the Burchell
zebra. The gradation of type is manifested in the
changing nature of the blotches on the skin, which vary
from an irregular network of light markings imposed on
a chestnut field in the northern or typical race, to the
deep chocolate patches on fawn-coloured background
characteristic of bulls of the Cape race. Again, while the
southern types are spotted on the lower parts of the legs,
this trait is entirely absent among northern animals. It
is therefore clear that the causes affecting coloration
have had a precisely opposite effect on the giraffe, from
north to south of the continent, to that which they have
exercised in the case of the Burchell zebra. That is to
say, the animal has evolved from a light-coloured beast
with white legs, and no very highly contrasted body
marks, into one highly specialized in the matter of
markings.

THE GIRAFFE 6i

While the body spots have tended to become more
distinct in the southern race, the horns on the other hand
have tended to modify. In the Nubian form a very
prominent third horn appears in front of and midway
between the others, and in some eastern types there is a
tendency to the formation of a five-horned race, by the
appearance of excrescences behind the original horns.
Although, in respect of the third horn, a very marked
contrast is evident between the extreme northern and
southern types, there does not appear any very even
and constant gradation between them. An inspection
of fourteen giraffe skulls all shot by a professional hunter
within a few days' march of each other in German South -
West Africa, revealed the presence of considerable variety
in the horns. The forehead enlargements varied much
in size in individuals, and there were, in one or two, even
indications of the two additional rear horns.

The distribution of the giraffe comprised, outside the
West African forest zone, nearly the whole of the Ethiopian
region from the Tropic of Cancer to the Orange River
and from Nigeria to Somaliland. At the present day
it does not range farther south than Komati Poort
(lat. 25° S.). The species has increased considerably in
the Transvaal Game Reserve of recent years, and is found
sparingly through Portuguese East Africa up to the
Zambezi, and in the northern Kalahari, the western part
of Matabeleland, and Khama's country. Thence giraffes
are found wherever the nature of the country is suitable,
through most of German South- West Africa, Angola, and
north-western Rhodesia west of the Zambezi, Nigeria,
the Congo, German and British East Africa, Somaliland,
and the whole of the country generally known as the
Sudan, to the west coast. They do not seem to be native
to Northern Rhodesia, east of the Zambezi, Nyasaland,

62

ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

and northern Mo9ambique. Indeed the only recorded
herd is one on the Loangwa River, probably recent
immigrants from the north.

Giraffes are fond of rather dry and fairly open country.
They are never found in the strictly forest regions of the

i

GIRAFFE DRINKING

continent. They are purely browsers, and are especially
fond of the leaves of certain thorn acacias, notably the
kameel dorn. They are generally seen associated in
troops of from three or four, up to twenty individuals,
and, as with other wild animals, old males frequently
wander alone. In drinking (which in a well-watered
country they do regularly), giraffes straddle out their

THE GIRAFFE 63

forelegs in little short jerks, so as to get their long necks
down to the water. They appear to be absolutely silent
animals. Sight, scent and hearing are very acute, and
their curious rolling pace, caused by the fore and hind
legs of the same side being moved together, takes them
over the ground at a great speed. When standing still
amongst the trees they are extraordinarily difficult to
distinguish, indeed the head, peering over the top, is
often the first part of the animal to catch the eye.

Although the giraffe is a very defenceless and timid
animal, his great size renders him, when full grown, to a
large extent safe from all enemies except man. During
eight years in the Transvaal Game Reserves, I met with
only one authenticated instance of a giraffe having been
killed by lions. This was an old solitary bull, and four
or five of them took part in his death. Until protected
by legislation, however, giraffes suffered dreadfully from
the attacks of human hunters both European and native,
for the tails were worth, amongst the east coast natives,
the equivalent of one pound sterling each, and the hides
were most valuable for making sjamboks, as well as the
lashes of the long whips used with the ox-wagons. To
this day one meets everywhere in the Sabi Bush with the
old shin bones of these animals, showing how numerous
they must once have been.

From a purely sporting point of view there is little in
favour of shooting a giraffe ; he is so gentle that there is
no excitement connected with the matter, so big that
it takes no skill to hit him, and in addition he furnishes
no trophy which is worth preserving. In old South
African days the wasteful method of hunting the animals
on horseback was, of course, intensely exciting, owing to
the rough country the chase often led over, but since at
the present day there is no room for such practices, the

64 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

giraffe is best left alone, the more so that, being harmless
in regard to all man's works, the arguments sometimes
used to advocate the destruction of other species do not
apply in his case.

The Okapi. This remarkable anitnal, the nearest
living relative of the giraffe, exists only in the dense
forests of the Congo. Its existence was unknown to
science until the beginning of the present century, but
within the last few years a good many specimens have
been secured. It is probably fairly numerous within its
area ; but owing to the denseness of the jungle it affects,
and its shy and solitary habits, is almost unapproachable
by white hunters. Some description of its habits are
related in the late Capt. Boyd Alexander's " From the
Niger to the Nile."

CHAPTER VIII
THE BUFFALO

The African Buffalo. Although there are very marked
outward differences between the large Cape Buffalo and
the small Congo variety, the latter — the so-called bush
cow — which retains its red colour through life, is said to
be but a less specialized type of its larger cousin, which,
of the same reddish colour in its earlier days, becomes
black when mature, and thus both are believed to form
merely local varieties of the same animal. Generally
speaking, the buffaloes of west and north-west Equatoria
resemble the Congo form, while those of the east, north-
east, and central regions are like the typical variety of
the south.

The last-named portions of Africa were, until a few
years ago, densely stocked with the animals wherever

66 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

the country was suitable ; but from 1889 onwards the
rinderpest, sweeping west and south, worked dreadful
havoc with the herds from Somaliland to the Cape. At
the present day buffaloes are preserved in several dis-
tricts of the Cape Colony, and in the Game Reserves of
Zululand. In the Transvaal there are about three
hundred in the Reserve, representing the natural increase
from the fifteen or twenty individuals which the rinderpest
spared, as well as another herd of lesser dimensions on
the Sabi River, outside the sanctuary.

Until a few years ago a few buffaloes existed in the
Umpeluzi Poort between Portuguese territory and
Swaziland. Of these eight were shot during the war by
a single individual, and in 1903 there were said to be
but three left, and they too have since disappeared. In
Damaraland and Southern Rhodesia some yet remain,
and though the vast Pungwe herds have vanished before
the combined attacks of hunters and disease, there are
still considerable numbers in the more northerly parts
of the province. North of the Zambezi they are found
in Mozambique, and there are undoubtedly herds in parts
of Portuguese Nyasaland, which was unvisited by the
rinderpest, and has been hitherto little penetrated by the
white sportsman. Thence buffaloes are spread through
Northern Rhodesia, British Nyasaland, and German and
British East Africa to Somaliland, Uganda, and the Nile.
Wherever they have not been severely harassed they
have increased largely since the cessation of the .epidemic,
and though nowhere approaching their old numbers, are
yet found in herds of considerable size. On the White
Nile and its eastern tributaries, they are, in some places,
very numerous indeed, and in the southern part of German
East Africa spots exist which sportsmen who have been
there speak of as having been literally swarming two or

THE BUFFALO 67

three years ago. In Uganda the animals have been
struck off the protected Hst, as, owing to their reputed
bad character, and the fact that the natives seldom
attack them, their special preservation has been con-
sidered undesirable.*

In north-western Rhodesia, three years after the
passage of the rinderpest epidemic, buffaloes were confined
to one or two isolated localities. In the neighbourhood
of the middle Zambezi the writer at that time saw no signs
whatever of them, but the piles of bones and skulls,
encountered on nearly every day's march, clearly in-
dicated how numerous they must once have been. Places
might be seen where a w^hole herd of as many as two
hundreda nimals had died within a few acres, and prob-
ably within a few hours. The country was a veritable
Golgotha. About the same time Major Gibbons en-
countered a few on the Kwito River, some hundreds of
miles to the west, but apparently in but small numbers.
In British East Africa the Athi Plains are said once to
have been covered with the species, though at the present
day, except in one or two isolated places, it is never
met with.

Mr. Selous has probably said the last word upon the
habits of this animal, so far at least as South Africa is
concerned. I have noticed quite young calves in the
Transvaal Game Reserve in September, and near Gondo-
koio on the White Nile, there were a large number
of young animals, about two months old, seen in
December.

The risk involved in hunting buffaloes as compared
with that incurred in the chase of other dangerous animals
has been much discussed by all authorities, and the

* Lately, I believe, they have been once more partially pro-
tected.—J. S. H.

68 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

conclusions vary according to the experiences of the in-
dividual. Personally I have had a good deal to do with
the preserved herd in the Game Reserve, and though
often walking close to, and in fact practically amongst
them, never found them to betray any feeling other than
curiosity. When wounded and followed up, a buffalo
is of course a dangerous creature to take liberties with.
He is extraordinarily tough, and probably more deter-
mined and plucky than any other wild beast except the
little ratel ; so that when he does charge, the sportsman
must make up his mind for a fight to a finish.

A wounded buff^alo will hunt a fugitive as a terrier
does a rat. Animals smarting from old wounds are as
dangerous as those newly injured by the hunter himself.
An instance of this occurred in the Sudan last year.
A sportsman was following up an elephant, and had just
fired several shots, when, hearing a couple of grunts on
his right, he swung round in time to see a big bull buffalo
coming straight at him through the long grass. For-
tunately he retained his presence of mind, and dropped
the beast with a lucky bullet from the heavy rifle he was
carrying. On examination it was found to have a round
lead ball lodged in one jaw, where an abscess had formed ;
the tip of one horn was shot away ; and, most remarkable
of all, the iron head of a spear was firmly embedded in
the frontal boss of the horns. Some native attendants,
who had been sent out to " spy " for the elephant,
reported that the buffalo had charged and " treed " them,
standing sentry underneath, until the reports of the rifle
were heard, when it immediately left them and headed
straight in that direction. I saw this head with the
embedded spear, myself, when at Mongalla in December.
How the spear got there nobody knew, but it seems
likely that it had been weighted, and set in the form of

ANTELOPES 69

a trap, overhanging some game path, a not uncommon
native device.

A charging buffalo sticks his nose straight out, so that
the sweep of the horns covers his shoulders and there is
very little chance of an instantaneously vital shot, the
only one that will stop him when he means business.
He keeps his eyes open watching his enemy, and lowers
his head only at the very last moment. Buffaloes are
seldom found at any great distance from water, and
drink twice within twenty-four hours, usually after dark
and again about sunrise. They feed during the night,
and spend the hot hours of the day lying down in fairly
shady places, the whole herd concentrated in a com-
paratively small space. The most characteristic sound
of the animal is a rumbling grunt ; but when dying, a
moaning bellow, two or three times repeated, is uttered,
and calves seem to bleat upon occasions in the manner
common to those of domestic cattle.

CHAPTER IX
ANTELOPES

Sable : Roan : Gemsbuck : The Beisa : Oryxes :
The Addax

The Sable. If the sable antelope must take second
place to the kudu in grace and beauty, there is still a
fearlessness and pride in his bearing lacked by the latter,
and his magnificent scimitar-like horns, together with the
brilliant contrasts of rich brown, black and pure white in
the coat, render him, in the opinion of many, a close rival.
At the present time the sable is found in the northern
Transvaal bush country from west to east, being very
numerous in the Game Reserve, but not existing south

70 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

of the Crocodile River. It further extends through
Portuguese territory south of the Zambezi, and is still
fairly abundant in parts of Southern Rhodesia, Western
Bechuanaland, German West Africa, and Portuguese
Angola. In the Batoka plateau of north-western Rhodesia
the animals are celebrated for the size of their horns, and
are, or were, very plentiful ; thence the extension con-
tinues through north-east Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
North of these territories the species becomes rarer, and
the horns of dwindling size. Its most northerly range
appears to be the coast belt of British East Africa, whence
the trophies obtained are relatively poor.

The sable is sociable, being found in herds varying
from eight or ten, up to forty or fifty individuals. He
is to a great extent, though not entirely, a grass eater,
and prefers thin forest country, interspersed with alternate
thickets for shade, and open vleis for grazing. He is a
regular drinker, and is seldom found more than a few
hours from water of some kind.

The calves, like the females, are of a reddish colour
and contrast strongly with the males, though females
darken perceptibly with age, and old ones sometimes
appear nearly of the same hue as the other sex. The
bulls fight desperately, at certain seasons, and in these
duels the wounds from their long sharp horns constantly
prove fatal to one or other of the rivals. The male sable
is, in fact, a fighter to the backbone ; when wounded,
and brought to bay, he usually lies down, and covering
every portion of his body with lightning-like sweeps of
his long horns, deals out certain death to any rash dog
which may approach within their reach. Herbivorous
wild animals seldom attack individuals of another species
with serious intent, but a few years ago one of the rangers
came upon a kudu bull newly dead, with a severe horn

SABLE COWS
(Sabi Came Reserve)

A SABLE BULL
(Sabi Game Reserve)

72

ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

wound in the body. The loose sand around was so
ploughed up that it was impossible to distinguish spoor,
but no other kudus were seen in the vicinity, and a
solitary sable bull was started out of a thicket less than
a hundred yards away from the place.

In captivity sable bulls generally become exceedingly
vicious and dangerous when they have reached a certain

FKEDING A SABLE CALF
(Sabi Game Reserve)

age, and it is ordinarily unsafe for a stranger to venture
into an enclosure where one of these creatures is confined.
Young males are usually found associated in small troops,
but old bulls driven from the herds often appear to prefer
complete solitude, and to disdain the society of animals
of other species as a protection. Many fall victims to
lions, but there have been occasions when even these
terrible cats have succumbed to the sweeping thrust of
the sable bull's horn.

ANTELOPES ' 73

I have never found the remains of full-grown mcde
sable antelopes killed by any species of carnivora except
lions, and, excepting for the incident personally witnessed
by Mr. Selous, had never heard of even hunting dogs
venturing to attack them, until quite recently one of
the rangers reported having seen a pack of these creatures
chasing a single sable. A native policeman said he saw
two sable cows at bay to a pack of wild dogs in a pool of
water. It must, I should think, be a very rare occurrence,
and when, having found escape impossible, he turns on
his pursuers, they must fare nearly as badly as domestic
dogs.

Courageous as he is by nature, the sable is never, in a
wild state, aggressive towards man ; though the Transvaal
magistrate who not long since had to deal with the
subject, appeared of a contrary opinion. In a case
brought into court, a gentleman charged with shooting
three sable antelopes (which are Royal game) without a
licence, and out of season, stoutly maintained that the
animals successively charged him, and that he was
obliged to shoot them in order to save his life. He
received the benefit of the doubt ! When alarmed they
utter a succession of resonant equine snorts, which is
the only sound I have ever heard them make.

The Roan. This species has a wider distribution than
his cousin the sable antelope, but is seldom found in
troops exceeding ten or twelve individuals.

Roan antelopes are spread over most of Africa south
of the Sahara, and four sub-species are recognized. They
naturally favour rather upland, rolling country, not too
thickly wooded — such as, in the Transvaal, is known as
middle veld — but when persecuted take readily to forest,
and are then met with in the same sort of surroundings
as the sable. The roan is a larger and more heavily

74 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

built animal than the sable, standing over fourteen hands
at the shoulder, but his horns have not the same majestic
sweep, and at a distance they even catch the eye less than
the great tufted ears. He fully shares the pugnacious
qualities of, his relative.

The roan is a grass eater, and drinks regularly. The
snort uttered when alarmed is similar to that of the sable.
The young are very similar in colour and appearance to
those of the latter, and though even in very early youth
the face markings are slightly different, the resemblance
is sufficient to indicate a common ancestor of which the
sable is the more specialized descendant.

Although never found in large herds such as are
characteristic of the sable, the distribution of the roan
is so very much wider, and the number of small herds
spread over any locality where the species is plentiful is
often so numerous, that the total number in Africa is
probably largely in excess of the total number of sable.
Old hunters and natives say that formerly in the eastern
Transvaal roan were very numerous in the middle veld,
and in the semi-open country about the foot hills of the
Drakensberg, while rarely encountered in the bush
country proper. Continual shooting exterminated the
majority of the species, and apparently drove the sur-
vivors to seek an environment not really natural to them :
for in the early days of the Game Reserve they were found
living in quite thick bush, which within the last six or
seven years they have been gradually abandoning for
the more open country under the hills, where they may
now be seen in considerable numbers.

The most southerly representative of this group was
the blaaubok or bluebuck, formerly existent in the Cape
Colony, but exterminated by the settlers more than a
hundred years ago. Five museum specimens exist in

ANTELOPES 75

Europe — at Paris, Vienna, Stockholm, Leyden, and
Upsala.

The Gemsblxk. The gemsbuck is the only example
of the oryx group found in South Africa, and more than
one thousand five hundred miles intervene between the
northernmost limit of his range, and the most southerly
habitat of the next species of the genus. This is, there-
fore, another remarkable example of immense areas
separating two species of the same genus, areas which
are neither inhabited by a single representative of either
at the present day, nor bear any indication of having been
so within recent times.

The gemsbuck is now confined to the extreme north-
west of the Cape Colony, Bechuanaland, German South-
West Africa, and the southern part of Angola. He is
fairly numerous in the Kalahari Desert, and maintains
his security, alike from hunters and carnivora, owing to
his independence of water. Like the eland, but in still
greater measure, he seems to be able amply to quench
his thirst from the moist tubers and roots which he
smells out and unearths. He is a massive and handsome
antelope, of great pugnacity and courage, and his long
straight hoins can be used upon occasion with considerable
effect.

Gemsbuck are typical desert animals ; they favour
a quite open country, or one covered only with small
stunted bush. Solitary bulls will often retire into dense
thickets during the heat of the day. They are generally
found in small troops. Mr. Selous records fifteen as the
largest number he ever saw together. Gemsbuck are
particularly wary and long-sighted antelopes.

The Beisa. The beisa is geographically the next
species of the oryx met with, and is divided into two
varieties. These oryxes associate in much larger numbers

76 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

than is the custom of the gemsbuck, and are sometimes
found in herds of as many as fifty.

The White Oryx is found to the west of the Nile,
and thence across the continent nearly to the west coast.
It is an essentially desert animal, and, like the gemsbuck,
apparently associates in small parties.

The Addax. The addax is distantly related to both
the oryxes and the roan and sable antelopes. It stands
about forty-two inches at the shoulder, and is of a pale
sandy colour, admirably matching the desert wastes in
which it lives. An inhabitant of northern Africa, it
extends into the Ethiopian region as far as seven or eight
degrees north of the Equator, and, living far away amid
the waterless sandy desert, is therefore extremely difficult
for the European to reach, and so very few have been
killed by white hunters.

CHAPTER X

ANTELOPES {continued)
Hartebeests and their Kin : Wildebeests

The Hartebeest. Hartebeests present everywhere the
same general characteristics. They are large ungainly
looking creatures, with long " fiddle " faces ; they
seem to labour in their gallop, and it is only when
there is some means of practically testing their speed
that it is realized at what a tremendous pace they can
actually move. They are naturally rather inquisitive
and stupid, being therefore easy animals to shoot when
unused to being much disturbed. They are found either
in open forest country or in treeless plains. Just as in
past days the Cape hartebeest crowded the high veld of

ANTELOPES ^^

South Africa in vast herds, so now the Coke hartebeest
may be seen in his thousands upon the Athi Plains of
British East Africa, sometimes combined in considerable
troops, at others mixed impartially with gazelles and
zebras. Hartebeests are essentially grass eaters, and
they like to drink regularly.

The Cape Hartebeest. Once existing in immense
numbers in Cape Colony ; now found in the more remote
north-western districts as far as Lake Ngami, also in
Bechuanaland and the north-west of the Transvaal.

Lichtenstein's Hartebeest. Seldom found south of
the greater Sabi River, thence through Mashonaland and
Portuguese East Africa to the Zambezi. North of this
river the species extends through Mogambique, Portu-
guese and British Nyasaland, the whole of Northern
Rhodesia as far west as the Zambezi valley to German
East Africa, towards the north of which territory its
place is taken by the next species.

Coke's Hartebeest. Extends from German East
Africa, through British territory as far north as Lake
Rudolph, but is not found west of the longitude of Lake
Naivasha.

Neumann's Hartebeest. This is a very local species,
showing resemblances both to Coke's and Jackson's
hartebeests. It is found to the north-east of Lake
Rudolph, and also between Lakes Nakura and Baringo
in British East Africa.

The Lelwel Hartebeest. The typical race of this
species inhabits the Bahr-el-Ghazal, and thence exists
along the west bank of the Nile, northwards. It has a
dark face blaze. Another variety of this hartebeest has
no face blaze, but I do not agree with some writers that
the tips of the horns are always either parallel or slightly
inclining inwards, having shot several specimens in which

78 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

they were inclined at a wide outward angle. This species
is found all along the east bank of the White Nile as far
south as Lake Albert. In the highlands of Uganda the
local race is distinguished by pronounced face and body
markings, which vary considerably, in individuals, and,
in the more pronounced cases, cause it to have some
resemblance to the Cape hartebeest. Lastly the Jack-
son's hartebeest inhabits British East Africa north and
west of Lakes Nakuru and Baringo.

Swayne's Hartebeest is an inhabitant of Somahland,
and the north-eastern part of British East Africa.

The Tora Hartebeest is found in Abyssinia and the
Blue Nile Valley.

The Western Hartebeest. This is the typical harte-
beest of Senegal, Nigeria, and other parts of west equatorial
Africa.

From the above it will be seen that the various races
of hartebeest cover a very large portion of the Ethiopian
region, and are represented by more distinct types than
almost any other animal.

The Bontebuck. This antelope was once spread
throughout the south-west portion of Cape Colony, and
was no doubt always a very local variety, being, in fact,
merely a specialized type of the more widely distributed
blesbuck. So closely in fact do the two animals resemble
each other, that the early hunters often confused the
species, though it seems pretty certain that their haunts
were really widely separated. At the present day the
range of the bontebuck is confined to the vicinity of
Cape Agulhas, the most southern extremity of Africa,
where a few hundred are carefully preserved on the
farms " Nachtwacht " and " Zeekoe Vlei " owned by
Messrs. Albertyn. Formerly they were the property of
Messrs. Van der Byl and Van Breda, to whom ' belonged

^^fiW^^i^-^'

BLESBUCK EWE WITH LAMB

GEMSBUCK COW WITH CALF

8o ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

the credit of originally preserving the species from
extinction.

The Blesbuck, Formerly existed in immense
numbers on the plains of the north-east of Cape Colony,
the Orange Free State, the Transvaal, and eastern
Bechuanaland. Though reduced to a mere fraction of
its ancient total, the species is in no present danger of
disappearance. This is due to the fact that herds are
now preserved on a great many farms in the two first
mentioned Provinces of the Union ; but being confined
within large fenced areas, and regarded by the farmers
in much the same light as sheep or cattle, they can no
longer be looked on strictly as wild animals.

The Tsessebe or Sassaby. This is a larger animal
than either of the two preceding species, attaining a
shoulder height of about twelve hands, and weighing
some 300 pounds. Its colour is a rich plum, with black
face and points. The range of the tsessebe extends
through Southern Rhodesia westwards to north of Lake
Ngami, and eastwards through the north-eastern Trans-
vaal, Gazaland, and Portuguese East Africa generally,
south of the Zambezi. The Inkomati River, which is
formed by the union of the Crocodile and Komati Rivers,
at the Transvaal-Portuguese boundary, appears to be
its southern limit. The species spreads over all country
to the west of the Zambezi, across the Kwando and into
Angola. East and north of the former river it appears
to be much less numerous, and is said to be met with in
but one place in north-east Rhodesia where, however, its
horns exceed in size those of its kind from other parts
of Africa. It is not found at all north of ten degrees
south latitude.

Tsessebe are grass-eating antelopes, favouring rather
open, and fairly fiat, country ; never hills or thick jungle.

ANTELOPES 8i

They have, however, a partiahty for shady patches of
bush or forest, wherein they may shelter themselves
during the hot hours. The troops are small, seldom, if
ever, composed of more than ten individuals, and oftener
family parties of from three to six only are seen. The
young animals are pale chestnut in colour.

The tsessebe has the reputation of being the swiftest
of all South African antelopes. Like his cousin, the
hartebeest, he moves off at a lumbering canter, going
" on his shoulders " and looking very awkward, but if
badly scared, or pressed, he can lay himself out like a
racehorse, and move at a pace which defies the efforts
of the best shooting pony to rival. He is on the whole
rather a confiding, slow-witted animal, often beset by
a fatal curiosity. When alarmed he snorts, and when
dying, almost always groans in a very characteristic
manner. Single tsessebe bulls are often found attached
to troops of other species, notably wildebeest and zebra.
The hoof is very large for the size of the animal.

Topi, Tiang, and Korrigum, are names applied to the
northern representative of the tsessebe from which it
differs mainly in its more curved back and goatlike horns.
It is spread from Senegambia and the interior of West
Africa, through the Sudan, to the valleys of the Upper
Nile and Congo, and thence to British East Africa, where
it is found in great numbers locally, though large areas
seem entirely avoided by it. It apparently does not
range for more than a couple of degrees or so south of
the Equator. In general habits it appears to be not
very dissimilar from the tsessebe, though found in larger
herds. The calves are very similar in colour to those of
the latter, and I saw a good many not yet old enough
to join the herds, near Muhoroni to the east of Lake
Victoria, at the end of October.

82 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

Hunter's Hartebeest is an inhabitant of' southern
Somaliland, and has outwardly little in common with
the other members of the group. The colour is rufous -
fawn ; there is a white V-shaped mark on the forehead,
and the horns, which are heavily ringed, and average
about twenty-five inches, resemble those of an impala
rather than of a hartebeest.

The White-tailed Gnu, or Black Wildebeest.
This antelope was always confined to the high upland
plateaux of South Africa, from the northern part of Cape
Colony to the southern part of the Transvaal. He
therefore suffered the fate to which wild animals in-
habiting a settled country, sooner or later, are doomed,
and was exterminated throughout the greater part of
his range. Fortunately, however, several farmers of
the Free State, possessed of greater foresight than is
usual amongst pioneers in a new country, began, many
years ago, to preserve small herds upon their farms, and
before the late South African War these existed in several
isolated districts.

Contrary to the prevalent idea, that the war spelt the
fate of the relics of the high veld fauna, it had, in fact,
quite the reverse effect. It is true that a few more
wildebeest, blesbuck and springbuck were killed by
Boers than perhaps would have been shot under ordinary
peace conditions, and that a still smaller — in fact, a quite
negligible quantity — fell to the British ; but such des-
truction as took place was more than compensated for
by the breaking down of fences and farm enclosures, and
the scattering and driving of the preserved herds of game
all over the country, especially when the big sweeps of
troops took place over the Free State towards the con-
clusion. The effect of this was everywhere the infusion
of new blood, and the danger of deterioration, with

"f

m

TSESSEBE APPROACHING WATER
(Sabi Game Reserve)

A HERD OF BLUE WILDEBEEST
(Sabi Game Reserve)

84 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

which long confinement on the same farms threatened the
isolated herds, was averted. The facts that black wilde-
beest and other game have not for years been in so
thriving a condition as they are now, and that many
farmers of the Free State who had no buck on their
land before, now possess herds, speak for themselves.*

The number of black wildebeest believed to exist in
1907 was considerably in excess of that before the war,
and if the present enlightened opinions continue to prevail
among South African landowners there is no reason to
have any fear of the species becoming extinct. Certainly
any such entire disappearance would be a serious calamity
to the zoological world, for undoubtedly there is no more
remarkable beast, either in appearance or manners, upon
the whole face of the globe than the white-tailed gnu.
His extraordinary antics and capers formed a constant
theme for anecdote among the early pioneers and hunters,
and his aspect impressed even the least imaginative of
them. Even in these latter days of widely spread
knowledge, he can still excite surprise when first beheld,
as is evidenced by the excited " copy " sent to his paper
by one of the smart young men dispatched to Portsmouth
to meet a regiment returning from South Africa after the
war. " A new animal," he wrote, " was brought home
by these gallant fellows— the most extraordinary beast.

* Mr. R. T. Coryndon paid a visit to the farm " Kameeldooms "
(Orange Free State) in June 191 1. He writes that on that and
the neighbouring farm — " Langkuil " — ^were 1800 black wilde-
beest, 6000 blesbuck, and about the same number of springbuck.
One morning there were, on a reserved part of " Langkuil," about
1500 wildebeest, 2000 blesbuck, and 1500 springbuck within a
mile of his cart, all on bare veld, the herds mixed together, feeding
and playing. " Langkuil " is the property of Mr. Jan Delpoort.
On such farms it is remarkable how the bucks, at the approach
of danger, at once make for the protected portion, and, having
reached it, cease to display further anxiety.

ANTELOPES 85

It has the head and horns of a cow, the mane and tail
of a horse, and the body and legs of a deer. I did not
discover what it ate, but it is called ' the wild beast ' \ "
Really, not a bad description.

The Brindled Gnu, or Blue Wildebeest as its
name implies, is of a slaty-blue colour with black trans-
verse stripes,* and possesses a shaggy beard and mane.
It is a much larger animal than the black wildebeest.
At the present time the blue wildebeest is found along
the eastern borders of the Kalahari Desert, northwards
from the Molopo River, in German South-West Africa,
Angola, Ngamiland, Southern Rhodesia, the Transvaal
low country, Portuguese East Africa, and Amatongaland,
where about three thousand were said to exist a few
years ago. North of the Zambezi, it is spread all over
Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and thence, through German
and British East Africa, to about the latitude of the
Equator, which seems to form about the northern limit
of the species. The brindled gnu has, therefore, an
extensive range, and is, moreover, found in very large
numbers throughout a considerable portion of it.

Blue wildebeests prefer open rolling country, inter-
spersed with thick thorn or other bush, to which they can
retire for rest and shade during the day. Sometimes,
however, they remain in the open, and then choose the
middle of a completely bare space or plain, where they
can see all round for some distance. The herd nearly
always lie down to sleep and chew the cud on these
occasions, one vigilant old cow remaining standing as
sentry over her companions. At night, which is, of
course, their principal feeding-time, they favour open
patches or glades, probably as a safeguard against being
stalked successfully by lions. Normally they drink
* i.e. down the sides, from top to bottom.

86 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

about sundown, and in the very early morning before
dawn, though in cold weather sometimes as late as
midday, and in going to and returning from water they
always follow their own special paths. They are grass-
eating animals, and their favourite feeding-grounds are
often ploughed up by their hoofs, while the pasture is
eaten very short. They are very partial to dry sand
wallows, and these hollowed out circular rolling places
are certain indications of favourite resorts of a herd.

Each troop appears to have its own well-marked feeding-
ground, and is seldom found far away from it while
pasture remains, except on its journeys to and from the
water. One herd in particular in the Transvaal Game
Reserve is always to be seen near the road about the
same place, and I have watched it increase from eighteen
to sixty individuals in the course of years. Any in-
fringement of grazing rights appears to be strongly
resented, and I was once witness of a most interesting
episode, when the herd bull of a certain troop chased a
party of invaders back on to their own ground on the
other side of a small stream, returning quietly to his
own party so soon as his duty was done. Not the least
remarkable phase of the incident was the sense of wrong-
doing exhibited by the trespassers, who displayed not
the smallest tendency to offer any resistance.

Blue wildebeests are hardy and courageous animals
and fight gamely when at bay. The present writer had
an experience of this trait once in Barotseland, when,
having foolishly walked up to one with an empty rifle
and no cartridges in the belt, as it was lying wounded
on the ground, it suddenly sprang to its feet, and, its
eyes flashing fire, made a most determined charge. The
natives with the ammunition ran for their lives, and the
writer was lucky enough to be able to dodge behind a

ANTELOPES 87

convenient tree. The poor beast, however, could only
come a few yards and then fell, spent.

When accompanied by small terriers — which, devoid
of all sense of proportion, generally rush headlong at any
animal they see — it is sometimes very amusing to watch,
from a place of concealment, their contest with a few
of these brindled gnus. As the little dogs rush in, barking
as only such small canines can, the big shaggy beasts,
at first taken by surprise, dash off in their own inimitable
fashion ; but, presently, recognizing the insignificance
of the foe, they come wheeling round in a cloud of dust,
and the chase is reversed. Away go the dogs, and hard
on their heels come the wildebeests, vainly trying to
reach them with horns and feet. Then, unsuccessful
but contemptuous, they pull up and snort their disgust,
only to find themselves assailed in rear ; and so the play
goes on, until at last the dogs, finding the matter be-
coming a little too serious, run in for protection, and their
pursuers, suddenly catching sight of us, are off in a
moment.

I have never known, in my own experience or in that
of my staff, the full-grown wildebeest to be attacked by
any carnivora but the lion, except on a few occasions by
the little ratel, or honey badger, as has been related
in Book I. Some writers have recorded onslaughts
by hunting dogs, but I am of the opinion that such
incidents must be rare, and undertaken only by urgent
press of circumstances. I think, at any rate where less
formidable species are present, full-grown blue wilde-
beests are safe from all carnivorous animals except the
lion. Sick or wounded, they would, of course, fall a
prey even to the hyaena, but when in full health and
assailed by wild dogs, the adult blue wildebeest would
probably act, when at bay, much as he often does with

88 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

domestic dogs — that is, he would get his hindquarters
well jammed into some thorn bush, to prevent attack
from behind, and keep his enemies at bay with lowered
horns and stamping hoofs. Wild dogs seldom attack
in front, but prefer to get their victim on the run, when,
without risk to themselves, they can tear its flanks open.
I once owned a big boarhound which ran in and pinned
by the hock a half-grown wildebeest bull which I had
wounded ; but I think, had I not come up quickly, that
it would have gone hard with the dog.

When undisturbed, and calling each other, blue wilde-
beests utter a peculiar and resonant " kwank," which
may be heard most often in the early mornings, when the
herds are collecting after the night's grazing. The alarm
note is a series of hoarse snorts, while the males may
sometimes be heard bleating like big goats. Generally
speaking, they are less habitually silent animals than are
the majority of antelopes. They are sociable creatures,
and are not only often found in very large herds where
free from persecution, but are frequently associated
with other animals, notably with Burchell's zebra, for
which they have apparently so strong a friendship that
the individuals of the two species are often found grazing
mixed up together ; though, on the alarm being given,
each draws away to the companions of his own type.
Bulls are sometimes met with solitary, but more often, in
South Africa, attached to herds of zebra, impala, tsessebe,
or waterbuck, less frequently to sable antelope, and on
the occasions when I have noticed this, the wildebeest
seemed to keep at a respectful distance from his hosts.

On winding or catching sight of a man, a blue wilde-
beest will stand stock still, staring for a very considerable
time. Then, giving his long tail a preliminary whisk,
he springs round abruptly on all four feet and dashes

1

90 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

niadly away — as often as not in a semicircle— for twenty
or thirty yards, his tail up and his head down — the rush
varied by occasional violent shies and swerves, as if he
were practising the evasion of some lurking enemy.
Then, with the same abruptness with which he set off,
he comes to a halt, his tail swishing. A shorter stare,
enlivened by a little pawing, curvetting, and many snorts,
is followed by another short dash — a process repeated two
or three times — when he generally makes off at a lumbering
canter until out of sight. Occasionally, when tame
through long immunity, wildebeests will actually follow
a man, especially a mounted one — dashing up to and
past him at thirty or forty yards distance. They are
always, however, much bolder if they have not caught
his wind.

The calves bleat much like those of domestic cattle
and like those of most other hoofed animals, are con-
cealed in bush or grass until strong enough to join the
herd. One day, as my ox- wagon' was nearing home,
a little wildebeest, not more than a day old, jumped out
of its form close by, and came running and bleating
towards the stolid oxen, evidently taking one of the
leaders for its mother.

As bearing on the courage and pugnacity of brindled
gnu, an incident which occurred in the Game Reserve may
be worth relating. One of the rangers, while riding across
a wide plain which separates two streams, seven or eight
miles apart, came upon the dead body of a crocodile
about eight feet long. The carcass being very much
decomposed, it was of course impossible to tell the actual
cause of death ; but the ground all around was torn and
ploughed up by wildebeest, and, in the ranger's opinion,
they had either surprised the reptile on one of the over-
land night pilgrimages, which these creatures often make

ANTELOPES 91

from one water to another, and stamped and gored him
to death, or, supposing him to have died from some other
cause, they had vented their rage on his dead carcass.
It is, of course, impossible to be sure what actually did
happen, but there seems no particular reason why they
should not have killed him under the circumstances.

CHAPTER XI

ANTELOPES {continued)
The Impala

Given its scientific name by the celebrated traveller and
naturalist, Lichtenstein, more than a hundred years ago,
and variously termed impala, pallah, and rooibok, this
antelope may claim to be one of the most beautiful and
graceful members of the existing African fauna. In
South Africa it is sometimes referred to as " the spring-
buck of the low veld" ; a name that is well deserved,
since in its extraordinary leaping powers it certainly
equals, and possibly surpasses, its high veld cousin.

Its general colour is a bright chestnut, paling to delicate
fawn along the sides, and becoming pure white below ;
the limbs are clean and slender, and the hind legs have
attached to the lower back parts of the cannon bones
very distinctive brushes of dark brown hairs, surrounding
a gland containing an oily secretion. On either side of
the tail extends a narrow elliptical dark line, similar,
except in colour, to that present in the common water-
buck. People who believe in the theory of protective
coloration maintain that this, in common with the
white patches under the tail, found in so many wild
animals, must exist in order that individuals of the
same species may recognize each other, and that,

92 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

when dashing at full speed through the bush in single
file, the task of following the leader might be rendered
more easy. The opponents of the theory, on the other
hand, point out that smell and not sight is the sense
made use of in such matters, and that in any case
colours would be ineffective at night.

The average height of the males at the withers is
some thirty-four inches, and their beautiful lyre-shaped
horns reach, in South Africa, a length of about two
feet round the curve, while in East Africa they often
exceed this by six or seven inches. In Northern
Rhodesia and Nyasaland, on the other hand, the heads
are generally smaller than in the south. It is remarkable
how this variety in size tends to occur locally amongst
certain species of the game ; were it due to the influence
of climate, it might be expected to affect all types in even
degree ; but some East African species are seen to carry
heads of lesser, and certain Rhodesian forms of greater
dimensions than their South African prototypes. Local
influence no doubt counts for something, for the impalas
found on the stony slope of the Lebombo Hills, in the
Transvaal Game Reserve, attain, in common with pther
species there, to a greater length of horn, and a heavier
bodily weight than their brethren habitually resident
in the flat bush country. Impala females are hornless,
and exceed the males in number.

There is no prettier sight than a troop of impala feeding
in some open glade of their favourite bush, when they
fancy themselves unobserved. The rams dotted here
and there amongst the preponderating numbers of the
other sex, pick their way daintily along, their heads
erect, their chests puffed out, and their whole bearing
stamped with the sense of conscious superiority. The
females, ever wary and alert for danger, glance constantly

ANTELOPES 93

around in the intervals of feeding ; anon an electric
current seems to run through the whole troop : a ewe
has started at some imaginary danger, and instantly
every other individual thrills in sympathy ; every bright
eye remains fixed ; every delicate ear inclined towards
the suspected quarter : a moment of suspense, and the
whole herd settle down again as if nothing had occurred
to cause temporary alarm.

Sometimes, during the heat of the day, a herd may be
seen resting under the shade of some large tree by the
river-bank. They stand about whisking their tails and
biting at the flies. Suddenly the spirit of movement
seizes upon them, and the rams rush round in circles
playfully pursuing one another, their tails elevated or
even curled over their backs, so that they present, to
some extent, the appearance of reedbuck. The moie
sober ewes stand gravely by ; life seems always to them
a serious matter, and their constant watchfulness leaves
no room for frivolity.

This \dgilance of impalas is especially noticeable when
they are drinking. During the dry months, especially
towards the end of the winter, the herds congregate in
the neighbourhood of such streams as are still flowing,
satisfying their thirst some three times a day, and never
moving far away from the banks in the intervals of
drinking. It is no difficult matter for us to conceal
ourselves in such a manner, and with such regard for the
prevailing breeze, as to be able to study the watering
of the herd at very close quarters. We then realize
forcibly the dangers which constantly threaten the wild
denizens of the bush, and how their existence must be
conditional upon their watch ulness.

We have strolled down to the river about 9 a.m. There
is so far no sign of life. The winter sun has not yet

94 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

gathered strength, and the animals are still quietly
feeding within the bush. On our left, the clear river
murmurs on its way, sparkling blue in the sunlight ; here
and there voicing its remonstrance, and lashing itself into
foamy anger, as some rocky barrier temporarily impedes
its course. Bordering it lie some thirty or forty yards of
yellowish-brown sand, over which the stream ran deep
and strong a few months ago, when summer was with us ;
the width of its former course plainly shown by the heaps
of rubbish and derelict tree-trunks to be seen at intervals.
Here and there shoot up patches of reeds and hardy
bushes, which appear to be none the worse from having
to lead an aquatic life during nearly half the year.

In front ot us, and some ten feet higher than the sand,
stretches the bank of the river, some fifty yards of open
grass gradually sloping up to the edge of the thick thorn
bush which, grim and mysterious, reaches away for
many a mile to our right. Where we stand the grass is
all eaten and trampled into dust by the daily passage of
hundreds of impala. It is the thoroughfare to the
watering-place. Following the tracks to the river's
edge, we come to a little inlet of shallow water, cut off
from the main stream by a bar of stones ; all around the
sand is churned and trampled by dainty footmarks ;
this is the drinking-place itself, chosen with the cunning
of experience, for in Africa no beast may satisfy its thirst
many times at a deep pool and escape the lurking demon
who dwells there, and is ever on the watch for some
unhappy victim. See, within ten paces stands a clump
of dense reeds, rendered still more impenetrable-looking
by the mass of debris washed up against the hither side
of it. The very place for an ambush ; and we will
temporarily supplant the leopard who has long ago
discovered that it is an excellent hiding-place, whence

^ impala|^on[the mcve
(?abi Game Reserve)

AN IMPALA RAM IN HIS FAVOURITE SURROUNDINGS
(Sabi Game Reserve)

96 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

he can spring out upon his chosen prey. A httle mani-
pulation of the natural covert, and a convenient screen
is formed, behind which, camera in hand, we may sit or
crouch.

The breeze blows gently towards us from the bush.
And now a large herd of impala is seen on the edge of
the latter, slowly emerging and approaching the river.
As they came out on the bank above us, they gradually
spread out, some resting in the shade, some grazing,
nibbling tender shoots, or tops of young reeds ; while a
few old and experienced ewes keep a sharp look-out
towards the bush which they have just left. Quite
suddenly a detachment of a dozen or so walks rapidly
down to drink : these will be mostly ewes and young
rams whose horns have not yet attained the lyre-shaped
curve of maturity. Mark how each animal stands as
far back from the water as is consistent with being able
to touch the surface with the extremity of the nozzle :
the weight is thrown back upon the hindquarters ; every
muscle is braced for an instantaneous spring. Their
enemies dwell in the water as well as on dry land, and
shallow as the former is at this spot, never for a moment
do they take anything for granted.

Hardly have the heads been lowered than there comes
a quick snort of alarm, and in the wink of an eyelid each
impala is a dozen feet from the water, every sense strained
to the utmost. Cautiously once more they approach,
a few anxious sips, and they depart at the same rapid
walk at which they came, to give place to another de-
tachment ; and so it goes on until all have satisfied their
thirst. An old ram, the patriarch of the herd, usually
the last to leave, stands staring steadily backwards for a
few moments before leisurely joining the remainder.
Like the others of his sex, perhaps because accustomed

ANTELOPES 97

largely to rely upon female wit to warn him of danger,
he betrays less nervousness when drinking and in the
neighbourhood of the water than is the case with the
ewes.

Now an old ewe has caught sight of something which
alarms her, or has inhaled some whiff of tainted air ;
instantly she turns rigid as a statue, the very symbol
of passive vigilance ; the danger evidently approaches,
and, expelling the air sharply through her nostrils, she
gives vent to the peculiar snort distinctive of the alarmed
impala, a sound pitched in a key higher and shriller than
the bass of the larger antelopes. As each member of
the herd gets the wind of, or sights, the cause of alarm
he or she too joins in the chorus, till the air rings with
sound ; then suddenly by one impulse the whole herd,
now bunched together, swings round, and all make off
with mighty bounds, sailing over bushes, rocks and
ravines, without apparent effort, to disappear into the
recesses of the bush, just as a couple of natives round the
corner of the path.

It has been customary to catch a few of these antelopes
alive each ^vinter, the method being to stretch a hundred
yards of deer netting along the edge of the bush, and
some fifty yards from the favourite drinking-place, and
to leave it there until the animals have become thoroughly
accustomed to its presence. On the sixth day we sally
forth, accompanied by three or four native attendants,
and conceal ourselves in some convenient spots in the
reeds, a little beyond the trap and on either side of it.
We make no sign until a sufficient number of animals
are between the river and the stretched net, then on a
prearranged signal the natives suddenly spring from
ambush and rush forward with shouts and gesticulations.
Immediately the herd dashes straight for the bush ; some

98 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

recollecting or noticing in time the intervening net, dash
round one corner or the other of it, but the majority see
it too late for evasion, and leap for safety.

And what a sight it is ! The net has a maximum
height of twelve feet when drawn tight, and seldom sags
down at its lowest below ten ; it is held in place by stout
poles, which aie so firmly planted in the earth as to
negative all chance of bearing down the obstacle, while
it has just enough " give " in it to ensure its not being
easily torn or broken. An old ewe is the first to reach
the dangerous spot. She dwells in her stride just the
slightest shade — there is no such thing as a pause or a
" prop " — then rises gracefully, and sails clean over the
whole thing in beautiful curve, alighting on the farther
side light as a feather. While she is still in the air,
fifteen or twenty of her companions take the fence
simultaneously ; close behind come others, jumping at
all angles, taking off, some nearer and some farther from
the net ; but all displaying the most perfect grace of
movement, and affording one of the most fascinating
pictures it is possible to conceive.

All are over. No ! one ewe, apparently shut in by
her companions, jumps short, and in a moment is kicking
and struggling in the meshes of the net. Demoralized
by the sight, a second one, coming just behind, tries, too
late, to stop and turn, but carried on by her own impetus
shares the fate of the first. Last of all comes a very
young ram, one of the last year's lambs ; his horns yet
showing no tendency to curve. He has perhaps been
standing a little apart from the others, and is rushing
madly to catch th^m up. With the blind impetuosity
of youth he either does not see or totally disregards the
frail-looking obstacle in front of him ; at all events he
never attempts to rise, but dashes straight into it. The

ANTELOPES 99

whole net trembles from end to end with the shock and
bulges far out from the weight of the animal, which in a
moment is hopelessly entangled, held by feet and horns
alike.

With the exception of the three captives all are now
safely over and are disappearing in the bush, still leaping
and bounding high into the air, as if there were other
barriers to progress to be encountered. Our enjoyment
of the spectacle, generally, must not blind us to detail.
Observe how, in springing, the forelegs are gathered up
under and close to the body, until the moment before
alighting ; while the hind ones, soon after leaving the
ground, are extended at full length behind, so that, while
in mid air, the animal is in the form of a perfect arc, and
sometimes alights in an -almost perpendicular position.
There is no obvious effort in the jumping of an impala,
such as is noticeable in a horse's leap ; he seems to float
through the air with graceful undulations, entirely
different from the rubber-ball-like action so characteristic
of the springbuck. He is indifferent as to whether he
leaves the ground from a stand, or when going at full
speed, and there is always a distinct dwell between each
mighty bound.

But the natives have now hurried up to the net, and
are busy extricating the prisoners before their struggles
shall have done them any serious harm. Once touched
by human hands they seem to abandon all hope and
surrender themselves completely to their fate, submitting
almost without resistance to have each pair of legs, as
it is exti acted from the meshes, firmly strapped together.
It is a bare 400 yards to the station, and three men are
sufficient to carry each animal to the enclosure already
prepared there. One supports each pair of legs, while
on the third devolves the important task of keeping the

100 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

antelope's head elevated : a precaution, which, if neg-
lected, results in the cud blocking up the windpipe and
choking the animal to death.

We may now form some idea of the leaping powers of
impalas by an investigation of the footprints round the
net. As stated, the latter is nowhere much less than
ten feet in height, and near the supports fully twelve,
and yet, given a fair chance, not one animal so much as
touched it. Some have taken of^ close up to it, and
curved neatly over, others — probably the older rams —
have risen two or three yards before coming to it and
alighted far on the other side. What higher tribute to
the powers of an animal which measures but eight and
a hall hands at the shoulder can be required, and how
many trained horses of twice the height could emulate
the feat ?

Provided that the antelopes are released quickly from
the net, this form of capture is unattended by much risk ;
in fact the only accidents we have had were in one or
two cases of stray animals which, at various times,
managed to get caught while no one was present, and
thus injured themselves, and in early days, before the
importance of holding up the captive's head while being
carried was appreciated. Of course, all catching of wild
animals must be attended by a certain waste of life,
however well thought out have been the precautions to
avoid it, and all that can be done is to reduce that
inevitable waste to as small dimensions as possible.

By the time we reach home the three captives — two
full-grown ewes and a young ram — have been released
in the compound prepared for them. In deference to
their jumping capacities this is enclosed by poles set
close together, and of a height prohibitive even to im-
palas. There is room between each for the animals to

ANTELOPES loi

look through, and so become accustomed to the hfe of the
station ; and, having seen that a plentiful supply of food
and water has been provided, we withdraw, giving strict
orders that no one is either to enter the enclosure, or to
pause outside to stare at the animals. The best way to
instil confidence at first is to take no notice whatever
while passing and repassing. At present they are standing
huddled up in one corner of the enclosure ; but on visiting
them in the morning we see that they have both eaten
and drunk, and each successive day finds an improvement
in this respect and a larger degree of confidence.

Full-grown females, and males up to at least one year
old, soon become tame in captivity, and at the end of
about a couple of weeks will readily accept food from
the hand through the fence. One ram of about ten
months old would jump backwards and forwards over a
stick held out in front of him, the height of which was
gradually raised, until he would readily take the leap at
the level of a man's extended arm. Old males, on the
other hand, when captured, do not readily become
reconciled to new conditions, and often savagely attack
their companions in captivity. On the morning following
the capture of a full-grown ram, it was found that he had
both gored and trampled the two young males and the
ewe which had been shut in with him. Once confidence
in man has been established, the animals are not easily
upset. We have found that after a month or two of care
and attention at the station, the twelve hours' journey
on a railway trolley to Komati Poort, followed by some
twenty-four hours in the train to the farm or zoo for
which they were designed, amidst continual bustle and
noise, hardly affected the animals at all, either in appetite
or condition. The boxes used for travelling on these
occasions must, of course, be well padded, and so nan-ow

102 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

as to support the animals, and prevent their being jolted
about from one side to the other. They should be like
miniature horse-boxes : having a grating and a feed-
trough in front.

When pursued the impala is capable of moving at a
great pace, and the manner in which he gets through
the densest bush without decreasing speed is wonderful,
though, owing to his preference for this kind of sur-
rounding, it ' is difficult to estimate what his speed
would be in open country, relatively to other animals.
Perhaps no antelope possesses more natural enemies,
and, therefore, nature has bestowed on the species a
remarkable capacity for increase, and on the individuals
a rare hardiness and tenacity of life. On one occasion
a ram was noticed apparently caught by the horns in
a bush. When approached it made no effort to move,
and examination showed that it was in a partially
stunned condition from having charged into the stem
of a tree when going at full speed. It was secured
and carried unresisting to an empty cattle kraal, where,
it lay for three days alive, but never fully conscious.
On the evening of the third day it died, and a post-
mortem investigation revealed the fact that the top of
the skull was broken into fragments, the two horns, with
a little piece of bone at the base of each, being held in
place merely, by the skin and membranes. A blow such
as this would in all probability have killed a human
being on the spot. At another time a ewe was observed
running with a herd, feeding, and apparently unham-
pered in her movements, notwithstanding that a great
piece, nearly a foot square, had been torn from her side,
evidently by the claws of some lion or leopard, whose
spring had been just a trifle too short.

Wherever impala are at all numerous, the beasts of

ANTELOPES 103

prey of all kinds devote their attention in great measure
to them, to the advantage of larger and rarer kinds of
game. At the lambing time, the hyaena and the caracal
are ready to do their share with the lion, the leopard, the
chita, and the wild dog. The last named especially plays
untold havoc among the new-born lambs which can
make no availing effort to escape. Luckily this period
is not of long continuance, and the young are soon able
to take care of themselves nearly as well as their older
companions. When pursued by its most inveterate foe,
the hunting dog, the impala often makes for a river, and,
if successful in reaching it, plunges in and swims well
and strongly to the opposite bank, generally thus ensuring
its escape, its cunning enemy having a very wholesome
fear of crocodiles. On the other hand, the herd's habit
of running in circles, round and round its favourite patch
of bush, gives to its pursuers an advantage which they
are not slow to make use of.

Impalas are essentially sociable, and males and females
herd together during the winter months, continuing
to do so up to the beginning of the lambing season.
It is, therefore, during the winter that those great
droves are met with, which, as the natives say, " turn
the bush red." But this congregation is merely
temporary, and is due to the limitation of food and
pasture during the rainless months, which, combined
with the drying up of the forest pools, forces the animals
to collect in the neighbourhood of the permanent water.
It is during the wet season that their ways can best be
studied, when habits are dictated by choice, and not
imposed by necessity.

In summer, therefore, impala wander far from their
winter haunts, and may be met with scattered in small
bands all over the country, wherever the bush is suffi-

104 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

ciently thick and their favourite herbs abundant ; here
an old male with his fifteen or twenty wives ; there a
band of half a dozen young rams. At this period the
necessity of drinking often, so characteristic in the dry
season, is less pressing. The long grass and herbage of
all kinds is frequently soaked with rain, while at other
times the heavy nightly dews keep it wet up to nearly
midday. This moisture apparently largely suffices for
the animals' needs, and their spoor in the neighbourhood
of big forest pools is seldom evident until the last showers
have fallen. During the summer each troop will be
found in its own particular section of country, which it
leaves only when food becomes short or the time arrives
for the annual migration to the river-banks. The first
rainy day of the season is a joyous one for the impala.
As the heavy clouds roll up and the air becomes dense
with moisture, the bush for miles resounds with the deep
and continuous grunting of the rams, their song of thanks
to kindly nature. At the descent of the first drop,
every buck leaves the river, to be seen no more in its
immediate vicinity for a period of seven months.

Clinging always more or less to the neighbourhood of
dense thorn bush, to which they at once flee if surprised
in the open, it is not surprising that the impala's food
consists largely of leaves and shoots. Though eating
grass freely, especially when it is young and tender after
the early rains, he is more partial to browsing than to
grazing. The staple diet is the leaves and fruit of certain
acacias. Some of the latter appears to be exceedingly
nourishing and fattening, and when it is in season impala
will hardly look at anything else. The leaves of most
of the wait-a-bit and other thorn trees also receive
attention, and the softer shoots and twigs are likewise
nibbled. About March the fallen apples of the marula

HERD OV IMI'ALA APPROACHING WATER

io6 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

tree are eagerly sought and the fruit eaten away from
the stone which it surrounds.

Towards the end of the dry season, in a district where
impala are very numerous, it is worth while closely in-
specting the bush to see how completely those species of
trees, which are most favoured, are stripped of every-
thing edible up to the extreme height which the animals
are able to reach. The tops of reeds are often cropped,
but probably as a dessert rather than as a substantial
meal ; for captured buck soon became very thin and
weak when these were given in conjunction with grass
only ; whereas directly tree foliage and bean pods were
substituted, improvement in condition became apparent.
The impalas sent to the Transvaal Zoological Gardens
lost a good deal of flesh at first, consequent upon the
change from their natural food ; but eventually their
systems became adjusted to the green forage and other
nourishing diet supplied, and they waxed fat and sleek.
Impala lambs grow very rapidly, and within a few days
are able to keep up with the older animals for at least
a short distance. When at play together they form
a very pretty sight, and are fond of rearing up on their
hind legs after the manner of goats. When not persecuted
by man, impala become fairly tame and confident, and
are very easy to approach ; but when accustomed to
being hunted and harassed they show great suspicion
and wariness.

The species now exists in the Sabi Bush in large
numbers, and when the unremitting slaughter of thirty
years at the hands of both white men and kaffirs, as well
as the constant inroads of the carnivora, is taken into
account, it is an eloquent tribute to its regenerative power
that it should have attained to at least something of its
former abundance. The slaughter reached its culmina-

ANTELOPES 107

ting-point at the time of the first construction of the
Selati Railway, from 1892 to 1894, when the bush was
filled with men armed with guns ; and trucks, piled high
with carcasses, were almost daily dispatched down the
line. Thence to the outbreak of the war, Europeans
during the winter, and natives all the year round, con-
tinued to take heavy toll, and during that period itself,
first Boer commandos, and later the irregular British
corps established in the low country, were unremitting
in their happily vain attempts to exterminate the animals.
At the present time, with all shooting stopped and their
natural enemies kept within proper bounds, impala are
increasing in a manner truly marvellous, and spreading
far beyond the limits to which they confined themselves
seven or eight years ago.

CHAPTER XII

ANTELOPES (continued)
Springbuck and other Gazelles : Duikers

The Springbuck. This, the most typical member of
the high veld fauna of South Africa, is the only repre-
sentative of the gazelle group which is found in the
sub-continent. It has the peculiar face markings charac-
teristic of all the other African species, and, as with them,
the females are provided with horns ; but it is dis-
tinguished by having five, instead of six, pairs of cheek-
teeth in the lower jaw, and a deep fold of skin in the middle
of the hinder half of the back, lined with white hairs
some six inches long. Under ordinary circumstances
these hairs lie flat along the back, but at the will of the
animal the flap of skin can be partially turned inside out,
when the hairs stand up straight and spread out like a fan.

io8 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

Once existing in immense numbers on all the high
open plains of Cape Colony, the Transvaal, and the
Orange Free State, the springbuck in these provinces is
now seldom found except as a preserved animal on fenced
farms. There are, however, a considerable number of
the animals on the Springbuck Flats in the Waterberg
district of the Transvaal, where Government has pro-
vided for their partial protection. The species ranges
beyond the above limits through German South- West
Africa and Bechuanaland as far north as Benguela.
The springbuck is essentially a lover of high open table-
lands, and in South Africa is never found in a bush or
forest country, except sometimes in the lambing season.
Its pace is considerable, and, when frightened or in play,
it indulges in the remarkable leaps whence it derives its
name. The animal, as it gallops, takes several successive
bounds, sometimes of nearly eight feet into the air, in a
manner forcibly reminiscent of an india-rubber ball : the
head is held down, the body curved in an arc, and the
legs kept quite stiff and close together, while the white
hairs on the back are erected to their full height.

Springbucks associate in fairly large herds under
normal conditions ; but when forced by lack of food or
water to move from their usual haunts, these herds join
together and form what is called a " trek." In former
days these treks were of almost inconceivable magnitude,
consisting of hundreds of thousands of individuals, and
naturally the country over which they passed was denuded
of every blade of grass, and for the time rendered useless
for stock. Such an immense concourse of antelopes was
followed by every description of carnivorous animal,
which, together with wild creatures of other species, and
even domestic beasts, were often seen being borne
irresistibly forward in the midst of the congested throng.

ANTELOPES 109

When an inhabited district was passed, white men and
natives turned out to the last man and killed until they
had to stop from sheer exhaustion. These migrations,
though less in magnitude than of yore, still occur in the
north-western ranges of the species.

The Gazelles. Between the most northern range of
the springbuck and the southern limit of the typical
gazelles more than a thousand miles intervene, in which
no trace of the group is now met with.

The typical races of Ethiopian gazelles are as follows :

1. Grant's Gazelle, which has an extensive range
through German and British East Africa as far north as
Lake Rudolph. It is a fine-looking animal, and the rams
carry long and massive horns.

2. Thomson's Gazelle, found through practically the
same country as the above. This is the well-known
" Tommy " of British East Africa. Single rams are
often found associated with the last species.

3. Speke's Gazelle, of the high plateau of Somaliland.

4. Pelzeln's Gazelle, from the lowlands of northern
Somaliland.

5. Loder's Gazelle. I heard of this species as existing
on the plains some distance east of Gondokoro, but did
not succeed in seeing any. It ranges from the Sudan
northwards into Algeria.

6. Isabelle Gazelle, from the countries bordering the
Red Sea from Massowa to Suakin.

7. Heuglin's Gazelle, from Abyssinia, and the Blue Nile.

8. Red-fronted Gazelle, extends across Africa from the
Blue Nile and its tributaries on the east to Senegal and
Gambia on the west.

9. Sommerring's Gazelle, ranges through Somaliland,
and part of the eastern Sudan to the Abyssinian Red
Sea littoral.

no ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

10. Dama Gazelle, an essentially desert species, ranging
across the continent from Kordofan to Senegambia.

11. Dorcas Gazelle, extends northwards from the
eastern Sudan and Nigeria.

12. Clarke's Gazelle, from central Somaliland.

13. Waller's Gazelle. The remarkable looking gerenuk,
with its immensely long neck, and body markings some-
what resembling those of the impala, extends from the
north of German East Africa northwards into Somaliland.

14. The Beira. This little antelope is generally classed
with the gazelle group, though outwardly it is more like
a klipspringer, and has habits very similar to the latter.
It lives in the hills of Somaliland.

The typical gazelles are inhabitants of wide open
plains or sandy desert. They mostly bear a strong
family resemblance one to another, both in outward
appearance and in general habits, and are to a great
extent independent of water.

The Duiker. The common duiker is one of the most
widely distributed of all African antelopes. It is nume-
rous all over South Africa, wherever suitable country
exists, even in the settled parts, and its range extends,
with but slight variation in type, all through Central and
East Africa to Abyssinia.

Generally speaking the females are hornless, but a
certain number are nevertheless equipped in this way.
Both sexes have a prominent tuft of hair on the forehead,
situate between the horns in the males.

The duiker is a solitary animal and is generally met
with singly, though a ram and ewe, or a female with her
last lamb, are sometimes seen together. He is found in
bush country, and, though often to be seen in the open
spaces, never wanders very far from thick covert, to
which he at once betakes himself if disturbed. When

SPRINGBUCK

/■. //'. liond. Photo.

COMMON DUIKER

112 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

making off, every four or five strides are terminated by a
bound into the air, and on reaching covert he dives
beneath and through the undergrowth, turning sharply
at right angles the moment he is out of sight, or believes
himself to be so, and continuing this zig-zag course
through the bush until he is confident that he is in safety.
He never pauses to look round, as do so many antelopes
after having gone a little distance, and this, no doubt,
is one of the reasons why he has managed to exist for so
long in the close vicinity of civilized man.

While resting during the heat of the day the duiker
lies down under a bush or in long grass, and on the ap-
proach of danger remains perfectly still until he fancies
himself discovered, when he at once springs up and
bounds away. When accustomed to be left alone,
however, these animals show great confidence, and I have
often passed close to individuals which rose up from
concealment when I came near, stood looking at me till
I had passed, and then quietly lay down again. In
captivity they become extremely tame, and seldom show
fear even of strange dogs, which, discomfited by the air
of unconcern with which they are met, generally slink
sadly away. A duiker ewe, which was the property of
some of the troops stationed there durmg the war, used
to roam all over the village of Komati Poort, quite un-
protected, performing a round of calls on all the houses
where she was accustomed to receive titbits. Another
animal, brought up by one of the rangers, after having
reached maturity, was accustomed to sally forth into the
forest to seek adventures, but always was careful to
return at meal-times, and when frightened or chased by
any predatory beast invariably made for the camp. The
" call of the wild " at length, however, proved too much
for him. His periods in the bush extended and his

ANTELOPES 113

visits to camp became shorter, until at length he ceased
to come altogether, having doubtless discovered a partner
who did not share his confidence in mankind's protection.

Duikers are mainly browsers, and nibble the leaves
and young shoots of various acacias, and small bush
shrubs, as well as the various bush fruits and bean pods.
Grass is consumed also, especially when young and fresh,
but I do not think to the extent that is generally believed,
as, when apparently grazing, duikers have been some-
times found actually to have been cropping little weeds
and tiny sprigs of bush growing in the grass, and the
tame ones I have kept at various times always preferred
browsing, at least when not consuming paper, tobacco,
and other like delicacies. Where water is plentiful they
drink fairly often, perhaps daily, but seem, when the
necessity arises, to be very well able to do without it
altogether. They are deadly enemies to young growing
crops, and are very clever at jumping over and crouching
under the protecting fences. Of course these depre-
dations take place at night, and are consequently difficult
to guard against.

The Red Duiker. This species, which is much smaller
than the last, is further easily distinguished by its foxy-
red colour, and the fact of both sexes possessing horns.
Like the common duiker, it is solitary in habit, and it
creeps about in the densest kind of bush, seldom emerging
except at night. It is a browser still more than the
other, in fact it is probable that leaves and shoots,
together with berries and roots, form practically all its
diet. It is a regular drinker, and is seldom found far from
water. Dense forest and bush, thickly wooded ravines
and stream banks are its favourite haunts. Red duikers
are generally found associated in pairs, and the cry or
alarm note is a compromise between a whistle and a sniff.

114 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

The red duiker is distributed through most of the
forest districts of Africa and though given different names
in different locahties, the dozen or so of types into which
it has been divided display superficial varieties of colour
and marking only, possibly no more than the inevitable
result of wide distribution upon a small and individually
local animal.

The Blue Duiker. This is the smallest of South
African antelopes, being little bigger than a hare. It
is found in many of the forest regions of south-eastern
Africa, principally near the coast, and closely allied
forms are met with through the greater part of equatorial
Africa. Like the red duiker, and to a still greater extent,
this little animal favours the shelter of dense covert. It
appears to drink regularly, and is essentially a browser.

The forest region of Central and West Africa is par-
ticularly rich in small antelopes, and one form of duiker
existing from Sierra Leone to Angola, attains a shoulder
height of thirty-four inches, that is to say, the size of an
impala ram.

CHAPTER XIII

ANTELOPES {continued)
Elands : The Bongo : The Bushbuck

The Eland. Largest and most docile of all the antelope
tribe, the eland has deserved a better fate than the
extermination which has overtaken him in most of his
favourite haunts. The ease with which he can be des-
troyed, especially by mounted hunters, and the quality
of the meat which he provides, have, however, proved
his death-warrant. Thus an animal not only beautiful,
gentle, and harmless, but one which might have proved

ANTELOPES 115

a useful servant to man, had fate ordained that he should
live amid enlightened and intelligent human surroundings,
is in danger ol disappearing from off the face of the earth
at no very distant date.

It is true that in several parts of the continent, timely
legislation has staved off the evil day, locally and for the
time being, but elsewhere, the white hunter with his
weapons of precision, and the native with his Dane gun,
or Tower musket, are vying with one another to eliminate
the species. In fact, the only ultimate chance of survival
for the eland seems to lie in domestication, and for this
he is exceptionally well fitted. In size and weight the
male is the equal of the ox, in intelligence considerably
its superior. He is well shaped for traction work, and a
few generations of attention and regular feeding would
certainly augment still further his bone and muscle.
The meat is excellent, equal to the best beef, while the
cows give a considerable supply of milk, which domesti-
cation might enhance. He is largely independent of
water, is immune from the endemic * diseases which
afflict cattle in Africa — so far as is known the only
epidemic to affect him has been rinderpest — and, an
equally important consideration, he can be taken with
perfect impunity into tsetse fly areas.

The writer has for several years kept some of these
animals in a domesticated state. In the morning they
go out to graze with the horses, donkeys, and cattle, and
return with them at night. If left unattended to roam
about the station, they show remarkable intelligence,
especially where their own wants are concerned. The

* An endemic disease is one that is permanently established
in one region or locaUty ; an epidemic is a disease that sweeps
across large areas with violence, but is usually of a temporary
nature, and after a time disappears entirely from a locality.

ii6 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

bull has a special liking for garden produce, and often
will stand for hours, patiently watching the movements
of the gardener from a little distance. The moment
that individual temporarily turns his back, " Alfonso "
dashes in, cleverly and quickly unlatches the gate with
his horns, and, bearing down upon the nearest vegetable
bed, pulls up and swallows all he can before he sees
himself detected. On the approach of the avenger he
makes off, bearing with him such spoils as he can seize,
and endeavouring to swallow them as he retreats. The
moment the last scrap has disappeared, he halts and
calmly faces his pursuer with the most innocent
expression imaginable.

From long practice " Alfonso " has learned the secret
of opening most kinds of gates, and by patiently working
away with his horns generally succeeds in his nefarious
attempts. Should all his efforts fail, he gauges the
height of the obstacle, and, if it does not exceed five feet
or so, he takes a pace or two backwards, and clears the
whole thing from a stand, landing with amazing lightness
for an animal of his height and bulk. For his own
attendant, and for people he knows, he has a wholesome
respect, but is not averse from " trying it on " with
strangers, especially should they happen to be native
women or children carrying grain. Such persons he
approaches from behind at a sharp trot, upon which
they generally drop their burdens and flee in terror,
while the malefactor remains to enjoy his ill-gotten spoils.
Washing, hung out to dry, has been found a favourite
article of diet. Newspapers are a delicacy, while tobacco,
and old cigar and cigarette ends, he counts as luxuries.
On one occasion I even discovered him chewing a raw-
hide rope ; so that there is little that comes amiss, and
it is no wonder that he remains fat whatever the condition
of the veld.

BULL ELAND
(Sabi Game Reserve)

COW ELAND WITH CAI.F

ii8 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

The little weaknesses mentioned above are, however,
but the result of Alfonso's early life and upbringing. Dis-
covered standing under a tree in Portuguese East Africa,
a lonely little waif of some four weeks old, he has been
a spoiled child from the beginning, knowing no fear, and
I regret to say, very little discipline. More timid and,
perhaps for that reason, less personally attractive, his
mate shows all the qualities most desirable in the domestic
animal. She does not share her companion's tendencies
towards exploration and experiment, even appears to
view his excursions in those directions with grave wifely
disapproval. In fact, she attempts neither to steal
cabbages, nor to jump gates, and I am inclined to fancy
that, with advancing years and increasing stoutness,
Alfonso himself will eschew these youthful frolics.

To one who has had close and intimate experience of
these beautiful and intelligent creatures, the spirit which
has prompted and still prompts their ruthless destruction,
seems little less than devilish.

Elands once abounded over the greater part of South
Africa between the Cape and the Zambezi, but at the
present day are represented in Natal by only a few
individuals, protected among the Drakensberg Mountains
on the western border. In the waterless Kalahari they
may still be met with in considerable numbers, their
relative independence of water enabling them to wander
whither few hunters, except the wandering bushmen,
can easily follow. From the Transvaal the last few
disappeared shortly before the outbreak of the late war.
The rinderpest had killed off most of those which had
survived until its appearance, and the white and native
hide and meat hunters quickly accounted for the few
individuals which the epidemic had spared. Since the
estabhshment of the Game Reserve a few have from time

ANTELOPES 119

to time been reported in the north, about the Portuguese
border. In Southern Rhodesia a few are still found
locally, but are, it is to be feared, being gradually exter-
minated, notably on the south-eastern border, where
Portuguese natives with guns are busy amongst them.
In Northern Rhodesia plenty still exist, and the same
thing might have been said of many districts of Portuguese
East Africa up to three or four years ago ; but the native
equipped with the arms of civilization is wearing their
number down with amazing rapidity in all but the most
remote localities.

The species further ranges through Angola and German
and British East Africa as far as the Tana River. Thence
northwards it has not up to the present been met with
east of the Nile, and west of that river appears in the
form of another species, the Derby eland, which is dis-
tinguished by its very much larger horns and richer
markings. This fine species extends from the left bank
of the Bahr-el-Ghebel from Rejaf on the south to at least
as far as the confluence of the Bahr-el-Ghazal on the
north, and westwards across the Sudan to Senegambia,
and is sometimes known as the giant eland. At present
no connecting link has been met with between it and
the form of the typical species found in East Africa,
but thence southwards there is a fairly even gradation
of type from an animal with a black back line, white
body stripes, dark knee bands, and a small frontal bush,
to one whole coloured with no indications of body
markings, and large tufts on the forehead and face.

The white chevrons, or V-shaped markings, sometimes
quoted as being distinctive of certain local varieties, seem
to appear in individuals of all of them, while absent in
others. An old bull eland shot near Inhambane had a
pronounced white face chevron and no forehead tuft at

120 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

all ; the male from that place now in captivity at Sabi
Bridge has both, the female being apparently devoid of
the chevron while in her winter coat, though in summer
there is a faint indication. Mr. Selous also pointed out
elands in his collection, which had been killed in Rhodesia
and Bechuanaland, possessing very pronounced whitish
chevrons, while others had no signs of such things. Like
the Burchell zebra then, the eland appears to tend to
change from a rich brown-coloured and brightly striped
animal in the north, to one dun-coloured and unmarked
in the south part of its range, and, between the two
extremities of the typical form, there are so many slightly
varying local races of which the types merge so gradually
into one another, and between which there are so many
intermediate forms, even in the present days of local
extermination, that it is difficult to find any definite
dividing line. The bulls always tend to assume a bluish
hue, with increasing age. Both sexes are horned.

Elands are sociable, and are, where numerous, often
met with in very large herds. They are great travellers,
and seem to be constantly on the move while grazing,
while, during the heat of the day, they stop and rest for
short periods only, when some large tree, providing a
pleasant shade, is reached. They are browsers by
inclination, favouring the grass only when fresh and
green, and sometimes cropping the tops of young river
reeds. At other times the leaves of various trees and
shrubs, especially acacias, form the staple diet ; indeed,
very little seems to come amiss, and domesticated
specimens eat grenadilla creepers and banana leaves,
which are usually deemed to be safe from stock. Of
fruits, the so-called kaffir orange and the apples of the
marula tree are greatly sought after in their proper
seasons. Like most antelopes, and in spite of their

ANTELOPES 121

general outward appearance, the habits of elands are
more akin to those of goats than of cattle. Where water
is at hand, they drink regularly about twice a day in
the dry weather, but in deseit regions where the rainfall
is scanty, and streams and permanent water are absent,
they seem relatively independent of it.

They are generally found in rather open forest, and
are seldom met with far from covert of some kind. I
have often come across them in very thick mopani scrub.

Their favourite gait, when in a huny, is a fast tiot ;
they seldom gallop for more than quite a short distance.
For such heavy animals, their leaping powers are most
remarkable, and it is not an uncommon spectacle to see
the members of a herd jumping over each other when
making off.

Elands are silent animals. A low, rolling grunt, some-
times uttered by both sexes, is the only sound I ever
heard them 'make; but the calves bleat like those of
domestic cattle when frightened. They are very harmless
and naturally gentle creatures, and can be captured and
easily tamed even when quite large. Mr. Sanderson of
Logogote in the north-east Transvaal, relates how, years
ago, he rode down, and, with the aid of his natives,
captured and secured a young bull and heifer, each of
about a year old, and, though the former died from the
injuries inflicted by his struggles when first roped, the
latter survived, became extremely tame, and wandered
in and around the farm buildings for years, until one
day she was shot by some Boers passing on their way
to the winter stock grazing.

At Sabi Bridge I have found the elands not very ready
to mix with the full-grown cattle, though they herd freely
with the calves of the latter and become very friendly
with them. Consequent upon some difference of opinion

122 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

a fight once took place between a three -parts -grown ox
and the young eland bull, in which the former proved no
match for his adversary, who, getting his head down
very low, brought his long horns up with a jerk, and
cut the ox rather badly about the head and neck, speedily
putting him to flight. The same success did not attend
him, however, when he once became too familiar with one
of the horses, and so great became thenceforth his respect
for the heels of those animals that Alfonso has since
begun to edge off the moment a horse appears in the
distance.

The Bongo. This fine antelope extends through the
forest regions of Central Africa from Sierra Leone and
Liberia on the west, to the Kikuyu escarpment of British
East Africa on the east. It agrees with the elands in
that both sexes possess horns. Owing to its fondness
for the very densest forest, very few of these animals
have yet been shot by white hunters. In East Africa
four only had been killed thus up to the middle of 1910 ;
namely a female by Captain Stigand, a female and a
young male by Mr. Kermit Roosevelt, and finally a full-
grown male by the late Mr. George Grey of Rhodesian
fame, whose widely regretted death, while lion hunting
in East Africa, occurred recently. Mr. Grey told me
that he got his bongo the first day out. After following
the tracks for several hours he saw a patch of red through
the bush at twenty-five yards distance, and, firing quickly,
found that he had shot a big bull through the shoulder.
In bongo hunting not only must patience, skill in following
spoor, and quick accuracy, should a fleeting chance
present itself, be present, but the lucky star must be
temporarily in the ascendant. The forest is so dense,
and the wind sometimes so treacherous, that a man may
get up again and again to very close quarters only to

ANTELOPES 123

be at last betrayed by some errant breath of air, and hear
the unseen quarry dash away through the bamboos and
undergrowth.

The Wanderobo hunters, who share the Mau and
Kikuyu forests in East Africa with the bongo, kill a
certain number of them, sometimes by catching them in
pits and snares, and sometimes by shooting them with
poisoned arrows.

Bongos are found sometimes singly, and sometimes in
family parties of three or four, or possibly more. The
Wanderobo say that they usually feed up to about
9 A.M., and then lie down during the hottest part of the
day. In the writer's own very limited experience, how-
ever, they were moving about throughout the day, and
animals were several times approached, which, by their
tracks, had been standing in deep soil among a lot of
thick bamboos. They affect thick bamboo forest or
jungly undergro\\i;h, which is often much higher than
a man's head, and use well-defined paths through the
covert, drinking, apparently, regularly every night. Food
seems to consist principally of the leaves and twigs of a
certain kind of undergrowth which grows from six to
eight feet in height, and the young shoots are all nipped
off where bongo have been feeding. There is not much
grass in the forest. A large charred stump had all the
bark eaten off between three and five feet from the
ground, and the dead wood scraped away. The natives
say the bongo eats wood, and the stump certainly bore
every appearance of having been gnawed by teeth.
Bongo have all the cunning and wariness of the common
bushbuck, and, for such large animals, can move through
thick jungle with comparatively little noise.
i;. The Bushbuck. This is the typical species of a
genus of forest dwellers, which is distinguished by the

124 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

horns, of a spiral form, being restricted to the males only,
while the females are always of a very much lighter
colour than the other sex, and generally possessed of
white body stripes, which are not universally present in
the latter.

The bushbuck, in size the smallest member of the genus,
is also the most widely distributed, being found through-
out Southern and Central Africa as far north as Abyssinia.
Its coloration varies very greatly, according to locality,
being dull and dark in the south of the continent, and
tending to become lighter and more distinctively marked
as the species is met with northwards. Thus in Cape
Colony the male is dark brown, with a few obscure spots
on his haunches, whereas, north of the Zambezi, the
type extending through most of Central Africa is, in
both sexes, of bright chestnut colour, with brilliant white
spottings and transverse markings. In consequence of
these differences, naturalists have divided the bushbucks
of Africa into some fifteen local sub-species ; but they
all merge so gradually into one another, and show so
many intermediate forms, that it is difficult exactly to
define the limits of each.

The bushbuck is a solitary animal, being found alone,
or at most in pairs. The species is essentially nocturnal,
lying up by day in dense bush or reed beds near water,
and loving, above all, the densely wooded gullies, or
kloofs, as they are called in South Africa, which run
down hill-sides or clothe the banks of small tributaries of
larger streams in more level country. It browses on
the leaves of various small shrubs and trees, and eats
grass sparingly when the latter is fresh and green ; it is
also rather ardently attached to garden produce, such as
beans and pumpkins — a weakness which sometimes calls
down wrath upon its head. Roots and tubers form

126 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

further articles of diet. It is noteworthy that, at the
Pretoria Zoological Gardens, the grass remains long in
the bushbuck enclosure only.

Both sexes utter a hoarse bark, equally as a family call
and a note of warning, which may be repeated several
times or expressed singly ; that of the male is the louder
and harsher. The rams are exceedingly pugnacious and
courageous. Hunters have many tales to tell of damage
to their dogs from wounded males ; while even the
formidable and experienced African hunting dog oc-
casionally succumbs, as was evidenced by the discovery
of the carcass of one with some two inches of bushbuck
horn broken off in his brisket. It is sad to have to add
that there was abundant evidence of the rest of the pack
having finished off the plucky little antelope.

CHAPTER XIV

ANTELOPES (continued)
The Inyala

The Inyala. This is one of the most local, as it is,
in all probability, one of the rarest species of antelopes
in Africa. Its most southerly boundary is the Ingwavuma
River, in the north of Zululand, whence, to the junction
of the Usutu and Pongola Rivers, there extends a dense
bush in which these animals are strictly preserved by
the Natal Government. North of this point they extend
through Portuguese territory for some forty miles to the
Umpeluzi River, and from west to east between the
Lebombo Hills and the Maputa River — as the united
streams of the Usutu and Pongola are named — a distance
of, perhaps, thirty miles ; so that the local range is not
a very extended one. Moreover, in the Portuguese

ANTELOPES 127

portion of the area, as was the case in Zululand until the
Natal Government took the matter up, the animals have
been systematically destroyed by the natives for many
years. As there is a considerable demand for the horns
of the males in Louren90 Marques, despite some nominal
protection, which in no way affects the native hunter,
it seems very probable that the next few years will see
the extinction of the species in Portuguese East Africa
south of Delagoa Bay.

The inyala is next met with at a point nearly 200 miles
north of the Umpeluzi, in the Portuguese provinces of
Gazaland and Inhambane, not far from the 24th parallel
of south latitude. Here conditions are much as they
are in the Maputa district, and the animals are far from
being numerous. It was believed, until quite recently,
that from this point there extended a gap of great extent,
in fact that no more inyala existed south of the Zambezi ;
but in 1908 Major Statham, quite accidentally, discovered
the species on the Inyamapuzi River in Gorongoza, north
of Beira, and secured some specimens. The antelope
next appears across the Zambezi, in British Nyasaland,
and this appears to be the most northerly point which
it reaches. Probably within the next few years the
inyala will have ceased to exist except at its present most
northerly and most southerly limits.

In the strip of the dense bush which forms the head-
quarters of the species in Zululand the animals are very
numerous, and beyond it they spread on the Zululand
side over an area of, perhaps, 200 square miles, at the
rate of one or two to the square mile. Beyond these
limits there is no tendency to stray. In spite of the fact
that they are to a great extent free from the attacks of
natural enemies, while poaching does not go on to any
alarming extent, there has been no notable increase in

128 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

their numbers during the last six or seven years. There
seems to be some likeHhood, therefore, that the secret
of the intense locahzation of the species hes in the presence
of some peculiar foodstuff, limited in quantity, but
necessary to the health of the individual animal, or else
in something connected with soil or water. If this is not
so why should inyalas in the past have been so numerous
on the east side of the low Lebombo Hills, and yet, so
far as can be ascertained, never have extended to the
west side, where the bush is, to all appearance, similar
in character, in so far as it contains the various leaves,
shrubs and fruits, which certainly form the greater part
of the inyala's food ?

A good deal of inquiry and personal investigation,
however, has failed to reveal the precise factor which
keeps these animals confined to certain particular and
widely separated tracts of country and sections of bush.
The food consists principally of leaves and bean pods,
the fruit of the marula tree and of the " kaffir oranges,"
after they have become rotted and broken up through
lying on the ground. Grass is also eaten when young
and of good quality. All the above, however, form the
food of the impala, as well as of many other kinds of
antelopes, and none of them are restricted solely to inyala
districts. There is that in the character of inyala bush
which somehow bestows on it a strong individuality.
It is not only densely thick, with tangled undergroMh,
and saplings growing close together, but, in addition,
has several features of its own, notably, a fleshy-looking
cactus of some three feet in height, from whose leaves
grow at right angles, long, straight and very sharp
spines, which obtrude themselves rudely to the notice of
the struggling wayfarer. There are other unfamihar-
looking plants and leaves too, so that amid them, or

ANTELOPES 129

in some hidden bulb or root, the secret may, perhaps,
lie.

The eastern part of the twenty square miles of bush
in which the inyala are most densely congregated in
Zululand is occupied by, at a rough computation, some
400 of these animals, and with them are found both
common and red duikers, bush pigs, and bushbucks.
Whatever may be the case elsewhere, the last named
are far from uncommon in this inyala bush. I saw their
tracks constantly, and Mr. Lehmann, who lives at Nduma,
near by, shot a fine ram close to the inyala drinking-place.
The impalas, on the contrary, which occupy the western
end of the stronghold, never by any chance show them-
selves in the inyala territory, though occasional inyalas
are to be found on their side.

In appearance the inyala is rather like a glorified
bushbuck, only that his markings are altogether richer,
and the long fringe on throat and back gives the male
a distinctive and bulky appearance. Some bulls are
very much darker than others, though this is, no doubt,
merely an accidental or age variation. Like common
bushbuck, the inyala is often covered with lice. The
horns are tipped with pale straw colour. The females
are very much smaller than the males, are hornless, and
differ markedly in colour, being of a bright chestnut hue,
while an old bull looks dark greyish-blue. Both sexes
are transversely marked with white stripes.

Inyala Hke plenty of water, and in the dry season, at
least, drink three times a day. In the Zululand Reserve
they hang about the margin of a large brackish pan, and
seem to prefer its water to that of either the Usutu or
Pongola Rivers. The call of this antelope is a loud,
hoarse bark, but the males may sometimes be heard
grunting.

book" II I

130 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

A day amongst the inyala in their Reserve, where they
are extremely tame and therefore lend themselves to
observation, is, to the naturalist, one of the most inter-
esting experiences imaginable. The essential point is
to get up early enough to be on the ground a little before
daybreak. Therefore, the opportunity of spending a
few days among them having at last arrived, we over-
night instruct the somewhat unreUable Umfundisi, under
the alternative of various dire pains and penalties, to
call us in the quite small hour';.

We seem hardly to have closed our eyes when we hear
the familiar fumbling at the door of the hut, and the
now unwelcome voice of our retainer announcing that
" the kettle is boiling." We strike a light and look at
our watch. " Three o'clock," and, sunrise not being
until seven, there is not the smallest necessity to be astir
for two hours yet. Verily Umfundisi has, native like,
"got his own back" this time. It is perfectly certain
that, if we obey our present impulse to order him away
and compose ourselves for another hour or two between
the blankets, nothing short of an earthquake will arouse
him a second time ; and so we light the lamp and give
various elaborate and unnecessary orders about breakfast,
with the object of keeping him employed. We also
instruct him to go and see that the guide is on the premises
according to .instructions, and has not to be extracted
from his kraal a mile away.

And so the time slowly passes, and 5 a.m. sees us
marching down the road in the dense darkness which
precedes early cock-crow. The morning air strikes chill,
and a thick coat and muffler are necessary luxuries.
On each side of the wagon track the bush rises like a
solid black wall, and there is at this, the stillest hour of
the night, little to catch the ear but the noise of the

ANTELOPES 131

crickets and the occasional call of a nightjar. Suddenly
with a crash so sudden as to bring us to a full stop, some-
thing dashes out of the bush and across the road close in
front. It is much too dark to distinguish the nature of
the animal, and an irrepressible feeling of comfort fills
the mind when it is reflected that predatory beasts are
practically unknown in this happy valley.

Now, from the kraals dotted about on the neighbouring
hills, chanticleer takes up his task. First one cock, then
another, then several together, herald the coming dawn :
it is possible, in the still air, to hear them at a great
distance. Presently the tiniest streak of light appears
on the eastern horizon, and we hurry on faster, for it is
necessary to be on the spot in good time. We have left
the wagon track, and are plunging down a narrow
winding path leading to the large bush and reed-bordered
" pan," which is a sure early morning find for the animals.

A big shape looms up a dozen paces in front and melts
silently away into the indistinct shadows. Certainly an
inyala. See, here is the very place for concealment. A
dense patch of covert, isolated in the midst of a perfectly
open strip some eighty yards ^vide, which slopes easily
down to the " pan," of which the grey-looking water is
just beginning to be dimly visible. On our left is an
impenetrable tangle of densest bush, stretching away for
miles along the banks of the Usutu ; on our right it
gradually thins out into more open country, the nightly
feeding-ground of the animals we have come to watch.
Here, where they are little molested, they will remain
out in the open until some little while after sunrise, when
they wiU slowly make their way back to the water, and,
after drinking, will immerse themselves in the densest
part of the forbidding tangle of thorns and creepers which
they call home. With the possible exception of a midday

132 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

visit to the water, they will not move again until about
half an hour before sunset, when a visit to the drinking-
place is the prelude to a night spent wandering over the
feeding-grounds. While standing or lying in their day
shelters inyalas are extremely difficult to detect and
approach, and the only chance of satisfactory observation
is, as we are now doing, to catch them as they slowly
make their way homewards.

It is now 6.30, and the light is quite strong. A
streak or two of red appears low down in the east, and
bird life, till now only perceptible in the voices of the
solitary night-flyers, begins to assert itself. The bush
francolins first take up the call, to be quickly joined by
shrikes, warblers, and all manner of feathered denizens
of the forest. A grey lourie, with his persistent " Go
away, go away," swells the chorus, and the curious
throbbing " hoo hoo " of a flock of ground hombills
comes from beyond the "pan." And now surely some
moving form fills one of the open vistas on the right.
Inyalas for certain ; but, by their bright chestnut hue,
females — showing themselves, as they make leisurely
progress down the bush aisle, to be a cow with her last
year's calf. They disappear behind some bushes, and,
as they do so, first another solitary female, and then
two more together, appear where the first were seen.
A low grunting is heard, the guide murmurs " inkunzi,"
and sure enough a pair of spiral horns are seen nodding
and anon disappearing behind some cover not fifty yards
away. Now is the chance for a photograph, surely, and
we hasten to make ready, just as an imposing form
issues from the shelter of a dense thicket and stands for
a moment fully revealed on the edge of the open strip.

Certainly a full-grown inyala bull is a grand-looking
beast. His shaggy forehand and dewlap, and his proud

ANTELOPES 133

carriage, make him appear much larger than his actual
shoulder measurement of about forty-four inches prove
him actually to be. His long spiral horns are laid at a
graceful angle with his back, as, with head slightly raised,
he glances curiously but confidently around him. Sud-
denly, and without warning, just as we have got him,
as we consider, nicely focussed, he curls his bushy tail
over his back so that the white underside of it alone is
visible, and canters steadily across the open, to halt only
on the edge of the opposite bush, into which he presently
slowly disappears. He is quickly followed by three full-
grown females and the one half-grown beast we saw
before, and we resume our pause of expectancy.

And now the upper edge of the sun just peeps for a
moment over that far ridge, seems to hesitate for a few
seconds, and then as it were, realizing that all is well,
rushes up into full view. The birds redouble their
chattering, and a flock of guinea-fowl, with enormous
clatter, come whirring down to their feeding-grounds.
Ducks and geese are busy amongst the reeds, and a
couple of ha-da-das, uttering the hoarse cries whence
they derive their name, are fljnng high overhead. The
feeding inyalas realize that the time for rest has arrived,
and all down as far as the " pan " they may be seen
singly, in pairs, and sometimes half a dozen together
browsing slowly up to the edge of the clearing, there
to halt and consider, as does a man on the point
of leaping into a cold bath. Then, having apparently
made up their minds to take the plunge, they dash across
what is evidently considered the danger -zone, their curled-
up tails showing like pieces of white cotton-wool. The
younger bulls seem' generally to be associated in pairs,
while the older ones are seen either singly or accompanied
by from one to as many as six females. A good way

134 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

down the ." pan," where the bush grows nearly to its
edge, we can make out individuals busy drinking ere
retiring for the day. It is unsatisfactory, from a photo-
graphic point of view, this determination not to pause
in the open, and we venture to leave our places of con-
cealment, perchance to seize a better opportunity.

The guide has long lost interest in the proceedings.
The idea of a white man being so utterly bereft of reason
as actually to take any pleasure or interest in these
animals except in so far as they provide meat mystifies
and disgusts him. Accordingly, as he follows behind,
he takes pains to move silently and to conceal himself,
only in so far as he dreads the results of doing otherwise,
and, bursting into an untimely fit of coughing, startles a
magnificent bull, which, having been standing behind a
thicket some thirty paces distant, now dashes at full
speed for the bush. As he reaches its edge he raises his
nose till the long horns lie flat along his back, and, never
checking or hesitating for an instant, dives into the tangle,
to crouch and dodge under every obstacle with an ease
and at a pace incredible till seen. In a moment he is lost
to view. We attempt to follow ; but to do so successfully
is quite another matter. The creepers trip us up, the
branches catch in our face and knock off our hat, the
long spikes of the cactus impale our limbs, while hook
thorns rend our clothing at every step. For the first
time we are of one way of thinking with our follower,
who suggests retreat, and, the object of the day being
partially attained, we wend our way back to breakfast.

Inyalas seem extremely regular in their daily move-
ments, and on several consecutive mornings it was possible
to see the same animals making their way home, by
nearly the same route, and at nearly the same time.
There is probably no other part of their range where

ANTELOPES 135

the habits of the inyala can be observed in the manner
possible in the Usutu-Pongola bush.

A new species called the Mountain Inyala has recently
been recorded from Gallaland.

CHAPTER XV

ANTELOPES {continued)
The Situtunga : Kudus

The Situtunga, The situtunga is distinguished from
other members of the genus by the great elongation of
the hoofs, which are admirably adapted to the semi-
aquatic life led by the animal. Wherever in Africa are
found extensive reed or papyrus swamps bordering the
shores of lakes and large rivers, there the situtunga is
likely to be found. It still exists in the swamps to the
north of Lake Ngami and through the reed beds of the
Kwando and upper Zambezi to Nyasaland and Tan-
ganyika. It is probably very numerous in the Nile sudd
as far north. as the Bahr-el-Ghazal, and thence westwards
through Uganda to the west coast territories and the
Congo. Quite recently a specimen was secured in British
East Africa, to the north-east of Lake Victoria. About
four local races of the species are at present recognized,
but general appearance and habits are everywhere
similar. The females are hornless.

The situtunga is a most remarkable creature, being
almost amphibious * by nature, and spending the day
in the midst of the marshes, little except its nose pro-
truding when it suspects the approach of danger. 'By
night it comes ashore to feed, and is said to associate in
pairs or in small family parties. It is a strong swimmer,
* Amphibious — able to hve both on land and in water.

136 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

but, owing to the greatly elongated hoofs, finds rapid
moving upon dry land a matter of sonie difficulty. Unless
driven from its day haunts by natives in canoes, it is
seldom possible to see it. Once many years ago, while
marching along the banks of the Kwando River on the
eastern boundary of Angola, a female stepped out of the
huge swamps which border the stream along its left
bank, and walked slowly up the stretch of grass separating
reeds from forest. It was just after sunset, and the
caravan was on the point of halting for the night. The
animal seemed quite oblivious of our presence, having
perhaps never before encountered human beings. Three
or four of the porters, putting down their loads, gave
chase, and, getting between the animal and the water,
turned her into the forest, where they quickly ran her
down. She moved so clumsily for an antelope that for
the moment I thought she was crippled.

Until the countries north of the Zambezi were opened
up a few years ago, very few white men had ever had an
opportunity of securing a specimen of a situtunga to
their own rifle ; but then, as now, great numbers were
annually killed by the natives in the big periodical hunts,
when the animals were pursued in canoes and speared
in the water, or else driven ashore by the burning of the
dry reed beds and then run dowii on foot.

The Kudu. It is no doubt a matter of individual
opinion, but to many the lordly kudu bull with his
massive body handsomely barred with white, his well-
bred head, and his glorious spiral horns, must appear
the acme of nature's efforts to attain perfection of type.

Extremely wary and timid by nature, and seeking
safety in the densest forest and thorn brake, the kudu
has to a great extent escaped the doom which the majestic
appearance of the male, the succulent flesh of the female.

KUDU COWS
(Sabi Game Reserve)

KUDU CALF
(Sabi Game Reserve)

138 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

and the valuable qualities of the hides of both sexes
would otherwise inevitably have called down upon the
species. The rinderpest, however, smote him with
terrible force ; in common with other members of the
sub-family he was wellnigh exterminated in certain
districts. Even to this day, and in areas where game
is carefully preserved, the species has not yet recovered
from the effects of the blow, despite its natural fertility.

At present the kudu exists in various isolated parts of
the Cape Colony, in Rhodesia both south and north of
the Zambezi, in Bechuanaland, German South-West
Africa, the northern and eastern Transvaal, Zululand,
and Portuguese Africa. Farther north it extends through
Nyasaland, German and British East Africa to Somaliland
and Abyssinia. Kudus are seldom encountered in the
open, nor as a general rule do they stray far from water ;
above all they love stony and rather broken ground,
covered with thorn scrub, where it is extremely difficult
to approach them unobserved, even with the wind
blowing favourably. They are sociable, but the troops
are seldom large.

The kudu is, more than most antelopes, a browser,
subsisting chiefly on the leaves of the thorn acacias and
bush shrubs, together with the fruits of the marula and
other trees. He utters a bark not unlike, but louder
than, that of the bushbuck, and the males, when fighting
and at other times, often grunt loudly. He is an in-
offensive creature, and though, when driven to bay by
dogs, a bull will often make some attempt to fend them
off with lowered horns, he can never be considered really
dangerous, and I have seldom known cases of one male
killing another in combat. Their method of progression
when alarmed resembles that af the inyala and the
common bushbuck ; that is to say the animal goes under

ANTELOPES 139

in preference to over obstacles, though when forced to
do so it can jump high and well. The bushy tail is
raised when the animal dashes away. Kudus are fairly
local in their habits, the same troops migrating with
considerable regularity each year to and from their
winter and summer quarters respectively.

The females are hornless, and though very occasionally
there are individuals met with having small and somewhat
deformed horns, the occurrence is very rare compared
with what takes place in the case of the common duiker.

The Lesser Kudu. This species, which stands only
some forty-one inches at the 'shoulder and weighs about
230 lbs., is restricted to Somaliland and German and
British East Africa.

CHAPTER XVI

ANTELOPES {continued)

The Klipspringer : Oribis : Steenbucks : The Grysbuck :
Sunis : Dik-Diks

The Klipspringer. Except near its northern extremity,
where the fauna is that of Europe and Asia, Africa is
destitute of the wild sheep and goats typical of the hilly
regions of other continents. Throughout the greater part,
however, wherever there exists rocky and broken ground,
be it mountain range towering to the clouds, or lonely
kopje rising fifty feet above the surroimding bush, there
will be found the klipspringer, truly the chamois of
Ethiopia. Thanks to its habits, this charming little
antelope still maintains a wide distribution, and holds its
own even within the confines of South African civilization.
In such countries as provide suitable environment,
almost every little outcrop of rock will be found to hold

140 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

its pair of klipspringers. In these isolated habitats two
is the usual number seen together, a male and a female,
or the latter with her last year's offspring. Among the
larger hills and mountain ranges, however, it is not
uncommon to come across quite large parties of even
eight individuals collected where some unusually tempting
herbage offers itself ; but the fact that on being disturbed
they bound away in different directions shows that they
are not truly sociable animals.

In localities where they are little disturbed, klip-
springers may be seen at all times of the day resting or
feeding beneath their rocky fastnesses, the shelter of
which they at once seek on the approach of danger,
bounding, head and neck erect, from boulder to boulder
with astonishing speed and incredible agility : now
momentarily balancing on one hoof, now springing, all
four feet held close together, on to the top of a pinnacle
of rock, of a surface area not much larger than half a
crown ; and so with never a stumble or a mistake, ever
upwards, until they disappear amid the stones and long
grass far up the hill, later perhaps to pause and gaze
back at the intruder from some well-hidden coign of
vantage. Often, as the wayfarer passes beneath some
towering crag, he may notice silhouetted against the sky-
line, hundreds of feet above his head, a compact httle
form, the ears inquisitively cocked, and the nose extended
in his direction. As he lingers to obtain a better view,
or to pull out his field-glasses, he sees the animal, by a
springy and apparently effortless leap, clear some yawning
chasm, and bound with an easy nonchalance up a slope
which a man upon hands and knees could with difficulty
tackle. Whether on the boulder-clad hill-side or on the
level ground, the klipspringer progresses by a series of
jerky bounds, exactly as if his legs were set upon springs ;

ANTELOPES 141

and, when surprised in the open, as if conscious of his
deficiency in the matter of pace, he makes at once for
his beloved rocks.

His food consists of small shrubs and grasses growing
among the stones in and near his stronghold, to the foot
of which he regularly descends at night to feed. The
natural moisture of the grass and the nightly dews serve
him for diink during the greater part of the year, and he
is often found among hills many miles not only from any
permanent water, but apparently from water of any
kind. It may be that being content with very little, he
finds sufficient to supply his needs during the dry season
in little pools of moisture deposited by last season's rains
under overhanging boulders, and in shady crevices of the
rocks. Perhaps when these are quite dried up he migrates
by night to some other hilly ground close to more perma-
nent pools, and in the Transvaal Reserve individuals have
once or twice been surprised lying up in the daytime in
thick covert far from any rocks.

The call is a thin whistle, rather reminiscent of a child's
flute, or toy trumpet, and quite distinct from that uttered
by reedbuck.

" There are two remarkable natural features about the
klipspringer. One is the construction of the hoofs, which
are nearly rectangular in shape, have a long narrow sole,
and form one line with the legs. The other point is the
nature of the coat, which differs in texture from that of
any other African antelope, and has rather the brittle
appearance and feeling characterizing that of a deer. The
hair very easily breaks and comes out, and therefore the
preservation of klipspringer skins is a matter demanding
considerable attention. The hair makes excellent stuffing
for saddle panels.

The principal enemies of the klipspringer are the

142 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

leopard and the caracal, while the young not infrequently
fall victims to the larger birds of prey.

The Oribi. Perhaps the most graceful of all the
smaller antelopes, the oribi, in slightly variant forms, is
met with throughout most of Africa wherever there exists
open grass country, or plains not too thickly forested.
The special characteristics of the genus are the bare spots
behind each ear, and the tufts of hair which are developed
below the knees.

In the Transvaal, oribis are not met with in the eastern
bush country, except in the very occasional instance of
a wanderer on the extreme edge of it. Their home is
what is generally known as middle veld, that is to say,
fairly open country between 1500 and 3500 feet above sea-
level. I'hey lie close, and when put up go away in a
series of long graceful bounds. They are grass feeders,
and are seldom found at any great distance from water.
Their call is -a shrill, thin whistle. The flesh is excellent
eating.

The following are the various known species of oribi :

1. The Abyssinian oribi.

2. The Gambia oribi.

3. Haggard's oribi, from British East Africa.

4. Gosling's oribi, from the Congo.

5. Cotton's oribi, from the north-east of Lake Victoria.

6. The Kenia oribi, from the Kenia district of British
East Africa.

7. Peters' oribi, from Mozambique and Nyasaland, and

8. The typical form of Cape oribi, from south-central,
south-east, and south Africa, which is a slightly larger
animal than any of the others.

The Steenbuck. The steenbuck, thanks to its habits
and its ability to do without water for long periods, still
contrives to exist in the civilized portions of South Africa,

ANTELOPES 143

in spite of the unremitting efforts of natural enemies,
dogs, and men to exterminate it. The species, generally
distributed throughout South Africa, as far north as
Nyasaland, .in all open and lightly forested country, is
occasionally found in fairly thick bush, but never in
broken and mountainous areas. It specially favours open
treeless flats, surrounded by or dotted with patches of
forest. In such places the little animals may be seen
slowly moving about at all times of the day, and, contrary
to the custom of most wild things, they appear to stroll
about feeding during all but the very hottest hours.
They lie down a great deal in the open, and the shelter of
a tuft of grass often serves as an adequate concealment.
Often they use old ant-bear and porcupine holes as
refuges during the heat of the day. They are sohtary
little creatures, being generally found singly, less often in
pairs. Where undisturbed, they soon become extra-
ordinarily tame and unsuspicious, and allow approach to
within twenty or thirty yards ; while, should the way-
farer show. a disposition to pass on, they will not infre-
quently quietly resume their recumbent posture, only
their large nervous ears appearing above the sheltering
grass. Their food is grass, supplemented by young shoots,
and occasional roots and tubers. They are silent animals,
occasionally uttering a very slight snort as an alarm note ;
but they bleat piteously when seized by any carnivorous
enemy. In captivity they do not thrive nearly so well
as duikers, though they become equally tame and friendly.

The steenbuck shows a high specialization in having no
false hoofs.

Sharpe's Steenbuck. The most northerly home of
this species seems to be British Nyasaland, where it was
discovered and recorded by Sir Alfred Sharpe. Thence
it extends down through eastern Mashonaland to the

144 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

north-eastern Transvaal, where it is found all along the
course of the Lebombo Hills as far as the Crocodile River
at Komati Poort. It is most numerous (in the Transvaal)
between the Limpopo and Letaba Rivers, and least
often found in its range south of the Sabi River. It
reappears in good numbers, however, in Swaziland, and
is found all along the border between that country and
Portuguese East Africa, on both sides of the Lebombo.
It probably also occurs in northern Zululand, that is as
far as the southern extremity of the Lebombo Hills.

Owing to the white hairs in its coat it is often mistaken
by hunters for the grysbuck ; it has, however, no false
hoofs. In size it is rather less than the steenbuck. The
body-hair is long and rather coarse, and of a reddish
colour — much darker than the chestnut of the steen-
buck. All over the body, but especially on the flanks,
are a number of white hairs mingled with the red ones,
giving the animal a grizzled appearance. The horns,
which are present in the males only, are very short,
seldom more than a couple of inches long.

It is usually found (in the Transvaal) in very thick
patches of bush, on, or at the foot of, the rough stony
ridges of the Lebombo Hills, and usually at no great
distance from water. Often, however, it lies out on the
bare ridges, among the rocks and boulders, a big stone
or a tuft of grass affording it sufficient covert . Its colour
almost exactly matches the red tint of the Lebombo
rocks, and consequently when it chooses to he close it is
a most difficult animal to see. It feeds at night or in the
very late evenings and early mornings, and, except on
dull days, always lies up for the daylight hours among
boulders, bush, or long grass. I think it also often goes
to ground in the disused burrows of ant-bears during the
day, in this way resembling the steenbuck.

ANTELOPES 145

In cloudy weather, especially in spring, when the grass
is young and fresh, it may occasionally be observed quite
late in the day feeding close to one of its refuges, moving
slowly about, and frequently lying down. It never
wanders freely about by day, however, like the steenbuck,
and indeed appears different in nearly all its habits and
in its character from that animal. Sometimes it springs
up when thirty or forty yards away, but at other times
almost from under your feet, in each case making off with-
out delay at a scuttling run, which nevertheless takes it
over the ground at so good a rate that it requires an
uncommonly fast dog to catch a full-grown buck. Having
gone thus at best pace for a considerable distance, it
squats again suddenly where it finds suitable covert.

This animal never bounds like a steenbuck or a duiker.
Indeed, if, as sometimes happens, a Sharpe's steenbuck
and a true steenbuck are put up from the same piece of
long grass, the difference in their habits cannot escape
notice. The true steenbuck makes at once for the open
plain, taking great bounds every few strides, its head
carried high, and looking the picture of grace. WTien it
has gone several hundred yards it probably pauses and
scrutinizes you from behind the shelter of a bush or tuft
of grass, for a moment or two, before again making off.
The Sharpe steenbuck, on the other hand, its head carried
low, scuttles straight for the rocks or the nearest big
clump of bush, in which it disappears. It never, in my
experience, makes the shghtest pause, until it suddenly
squats down in its shelter. (The steenbuck, when it
thinks itself safe from pursuit, generally walks along
quietly for a time, before lying down or resuming grazing.)

Sharpe's steenbuck is very solitary in habit, and even
when a pair are put out of the same patch of bush, they
seem generally to have been lying in different parts of it.

146 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

Bush and rocks seem to be regarded equally as natural
refuges, and in following up individuals I never could
discover a preference for one over the other.

Both in appearance and habits the animal is so essen-
tially unlike the steenbuck, that were it not for the im-
portant structural difference in the matter of false hoofs,
it would appear far more nearly akin to the grysbuck. In
fact its usual name in the Transvaal is " grysbuck " or
" grys steenbok."

The Grysbuck. The range of this not very common
species is confined to some of the coast and low-lying
districts of the Cape Colony, its most northerly recorded
home being Port St. John's in Pondoland. Writers who
mention its being numerous in the eastern Transvaal
have confused it with Sharpe's steenbuck. It certainly
bears rather a strong superficial resemblance to the latter
animal, which having been described as a distinct species
only comparatively recently, renders the mistake of the
ordinary hunters not very surprising.

The form of the grysbuck is stouter than that of the
steenbuck. The hair is long and coarse, with a number
of white hairs mixed with the red ones, giving the animal
a grizzled appearance. The under parts of the body,
chin, throat, and eyebrows are paler. Ears are large and
dark grey in colour. There is often a dark T-shaped mark
on the crown. Horns are stouter, and rather more
curved forwards than those of the steenbuck. False hoofs
are present, though small.

The grysbuck prefers a good deal of covert, and is
generally found in rather hilly districts. It moves with
its head carried low, and instead of bounding away when
disturbed after the manner of the steenbuck, it seems
rather to "scuttle " : its pace is not very great, and it
makes for the shelter of the bush when seeking safety.

ANTELOPES 147

Livingstone's Suni. The range of this graceful little
creature extends from northern Zululand along the coast
to the Zambesi and Nyasaland. It is not found far inland,
and does not exist in the Transvaal. In Portuguese East
Africa within a hundred miles of the coast it is, how-
ever, very numerous in places, especially in the Inhambane
district near Coguno, and on the lower Tembe and Maputa
Rivers near Delagoa Bay.

Livingstone antelopes, as they are generally termed, are
found in the densest undergrowth, where it is generally
impossible for a man to progress. They are excessively
timid and wary, and, instead of bounding away like most
small antelopes, they run under the covert, crouching
and slinking, more like jackals or cats, than bucks. They
are very difficult to see unless a man has had a lot of
practice in picking them out amid the dense scrub.
The best plan, perhaps, is to enter the forest before day-
light, or late in the afternoon, and to sit down within a
small shelter of branches, keeping very still and quiet,
the spot selected being near to where the tracks betray
the usual runs of the animals. Presently a dainty little
form may be seen delicately picking its way along,
pausing every few steps to look around or to feed, every
sense evidently tuned to extreme alertness, the slim legs,
not much thicker than a pencil, in constant and springy
motion. The slightest suspicious noise and the animal
simply vanishes. The eye scarcely sees him go.

They usually move about singly, or sometimes in pairs.
The ordinary cry is a whistling snort, low in tone and not
usually repeated. Their food consists partly of leaves and
young shoots, and a very distinctive diet is a long carrot-
like root of a pale flesh colour, having fibrous protrusions
at the thicker end. This root is very common in all bush
frequented by Livingstone antelopes, and where it is

148 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

absent, though the forest may be in all other respects
apparently suitable to their requirements, they are not
met with. It is probable that they pick grass in the
open glades on the edge of the forest when they leave the
latter at night. They are apparently quite independent
of drinking, as they seldom venture far from their
particular piece of forest, often situate many miles from
water of any kind. Probably the roots which they eat
so largely supply both food and drink.

Varieties of the genus are the Royal Antelope and
Bates's Pigmy Antelope from the west coast, Harrison's
Pigmy Antelope from the Congo, and the Suni from
Kilimanjaro to Mogambique ; they are also found in some
of the small islands near Zanzibar.

The Dik-dik. Dik-diks are very small antelopes with
pointed and elongated noses almost completely covered
with hair. The crown of the head possesses a tuft of
long hairs. The tail is very short. False hoofs are
present, but they are very small.

The genus extends diagonally across Africa from
Abyssinia and Somaliland to Damaraland, and inhabits dry
and open country. Eleven species are described in "The
Game Animals of Africa," and none are much larger
than a hare.

CHAPTER XVII

ANTELOPES {continued)

Waterbucks : The Lechwe : Cobs : Reedbucks : The Vaal
or Grey Rhebuck

The Waterbuck. The waterbuck ranges through the
more open forest country of eastern Africa from Somali-
land in the north to Zululand in the south, and spreads
westward to northern and southern Rhodesia, and German

ANTELOPES 149

South- West Africa. In the eastern Transvaal it is the
most numerous of all the larger antelopes, and attains
there a considerable size, both in bodily bulk and in length
of horn. Towards the limit of its northern range, the
trophies carried by the males are very much smaller ;
there being in this respect a remarkable agreement with
the sable antelope.

Waterbuck favour the neighbourhood of the element
whence they derive their name, and are seldom found
very far from the banks of large rivers, or from permanent
water of some sort. They are partial to rough and broken
country, stony hill-sides, and the \'icinity of fairly thick
bush, and are not found on the high open plateaux,
When single animals are pursued, and find they cannot
otherwise escape, they take to the water ; I have seen
individuals chased by wild dogs swim right across deep
rivers ; but their usual custom is to come to bay in
a pool, where they stand with little but the head and
neck protruding. In this position their enemies can
approach by swimming only, giving the antelope a con-
siderable superiority, of which he takes full advantage
by striking with his horns and fore feet. When thus
" held up " by domestic dogs, the animal's whole atten-
tion is often so concentrated on keeping them off, that it
is possible to approach quite close to him.

Unlike most antelopes, which, when drinking, stand
rather back from the water, waterbuck go right in, often
above the knees, and take a considerable time over the
process of satisfying their thirst. They generally drink
from about dawn to a little after sunrise, and again rather
late in the afternoon ; in addition, they may possibly
seek the water at some time during the night, and in
hot dry weather, about midday. Opposite my station
at Sabi Bridge I once saw a waterbuck bull walk quietly

150 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

down to the river, deliberately swim across a deep and
swift channel to a rock some twenty-five yards distant,
where he remained looking about for some fifteen minutes,
and plunge in and swim back again. Nothing, so far as
could be seen, had alarmed him. On dry land, the pace
of the waterbuck is relatively slow ; he prefers to trot,
but when excited or alarmed breaks into a heavy gallop,
not maintained for any very great distance. He can
move over broken and stony country with great facility.

The waterbuck is essentially sociable. Of course, as
with other wild animals, solitary bulls are not uncommon,
and are seldom noticed seeking the society of members
of other species ; but generally speaking four or five
young males are found together, while one herd bull will
be seen attended by a considerable number of females
and half -grown animals of both sexes. The largest
nun^ber of cows I ever saw in the Transvaal to one bull
was nineteen, but in north-west Rhodesia I once counted
thirty-five. During the dry season, when succulent
herbage becomes restricted to the banks of the streams, it
is not uncommon for two or more herds to join forces at
watering and feeding times, when forty or fifty individuals
may be temporarily associated. Along the Ngwanitzi
River, in the Transvaal Game Reserve, where the species
is especially numerous, herds numbering from eight to
thirty are practically never out of sight of the traveller.

The bulls often fight obstinately. I once killed a
solitary bull which was absolutely covered with horn
marks, some old and some quite fresh ; there was one
partially healed wound in the shoulder at least three
inches deep. An old buU having one horn of normal
shape, while the other grew quite straight and at an
unusual angle, kept all rivals successfully at bay for several
years, his malformation doubtless giving him an advan-

WATERBUCK COWS
(Sabi Game Reserve)

WATERBUCK CALVES

(Sabi Game Reserve)

152 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

tage in combat ; but at last his career of victory was cut
short by a Hon. Waterbuck cows are very watchful and
wary, though the bulls are usually rather slow of appre-
hension, in my experience. The calves are at first of a
reddish colour.

Once about the beginning of March I was riding through
the bush, when a little waterbuck calf rose from the
" form " where it had been left by its mother, and came
trotting up to the horse. It betrayed practically no
nervousness when I dismounted, and stretched out its
nose to touch my extended finger. After a time the
mother appeared upon the scene and trotted round and
round with every appearance of anxiety for her offspring,
sometimes making as if she would approach close up,
when, her natural fears momentarily proving too much
for her, she would spring away out of sight. When at
last her eirrant offspring saw fit to join her, she lost no
time in taking him out of the way of further adventure.

Although wild dogs, leopards and chitas hunt and kill
the females, calves, and half-grown males of waterbuck,
the adult bulls are seldom attacked, so far as our expe-
rience in the Reserve goes, by any natural enemies except
lions. A ranger records an experience of a bull charging
two chitas, which had pulled down a calf.

Natives in the eastern Transvaal have sometimes
pointed out that there are two different types of water-
buck ; and no doubt some herds are uniformly darker
in colour, and I think larger in size, than the majority,
which appear of a sandy-grey hue. This variety seems
dependent on the haunts of the animal, the waterbucks
on the Lebombo Hills belonging to the former category,
and most, though not all, of the flat country ones to the
latter.

Waterbuck are grass feeders. The meat is rather

ANTELOPES

153

stringy, and it is fashionable to speak of it as uneatable.
As a matter of fact the flesh of most adult male antelopes
is hard and tasteless, if cast fresh into the cooking-pot
and boiled to a rag by the untrained raw native who is

WATERBUCK IN ACT OF RISING

dignified by the name of " cook " in most South African
hunting parties. Waterbuck meat being coarser grained
than usual, suffers from this treatment in an extra
degree ; but if it is hung for the correct period, and
cooked with some small amount of scientific attention,
there is not much difference apparent between it and that
of most other species. Quite a number of people, who
might easily escape being mistaken for experienced
epicures, think it the correct thing to express the utmost

154 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

fastidiousness in such matters. I recollect ' ' an old hand, ' '
who was horrified at being asked to share a meal of water-
buck meat, partaking with relish several days later of a
portion of the identical joint, which had in the meantime
been properly cooked ; doubtless if he had been told the
nature of what he was eating he would not have expressed
the same satisfaction.

Waterbuck are highly scented animals, and their not
disagreeable odour is easily perceptible to the nostrils
even at some distance, when the air hangs damp and heavy.

The Sing-sing Waterbuck. The sing-sing is easily
distinguishable from the common waterbuck in possessing
a continuous white patch on the hindquarters, instead of a
white ring. It is also decidedly more rufous in its general
colour, and is more strongly marked. It is not found
south of the Zambezi, and north of that river exists in
several sub-species in Angola (Penrice's waterbuck),
German and British East Africa, Nyasaland, Sierra Leone,
Nigeria, Uganda, and the Upper Nile to Abyssinia. The
largest recorded horns come from Toru in the north-west
of the Uganda Protectorate. I think the horns of the
waterbucks found north of Lake Victoria tend to be
longer, slighter, and more gracefully lunated* than those
of animals met with farther south.

The habits of the sing-sing appear very similar to those
of the common variety.

The Lechwe. A little smaller than the waterbuck,
with the hair firmer and less coarse, the lechwe is, in
general colour, a darkish chestnut, becoming white below ;
the hoofs are rather elongated and pointed, and the
space between them quite bare. The horns are much
more curved than those of the waterbuck, and the tips
are inclined strongly forwards.

* Lunate — crescent- shaped .

ANTELOPES 155

The lechwe ranges from Lake Ngami northwards along
the Kwando and the upper Zambezi and its tributaries,
wherever conditions are favourable to its habits, and
extends into north-east Rhodesia. In the Lake Mweru
district there is a curious variety of type, the old males
being almost black on the upper parts of the body and
outer surfaces of the limbs.

Lechwe inhabit the great reed swamps which, conse-
quent on the annual overflow, border the rivers in many
parts of Northern Rhodesia. After situtunga, they are
no doubt the most aquatic of all antelopes, and in the
heat of the day may be seen standing knee, and even body
deep in the middle of one of the large shallow lagoons
which occur here and there amid the wastes of reeds or
papyrus. They are met with in troops of considerable
size, ewes and herd rams — generally several of the latter —
and parties of bachelor mcdes. When disturbed they
stick their noses out straight, and the males lay their
horns flat along their backs ; they then trot away and
later increase the pace to a rather heavy gallop, always
making for the shallow water, through which they pro-
gress by a series of bounds, swimming where it is out of
their depth, and then splashing on again when their feet
once more touch the bottom. At night they come ashore
to graze, and may sometimes be seen in the cool of the
morning feeding and lying down on the banks. Their
food consists of grass and young reeds.

Mrs. Gray's Waterbuck. This animal is very much
hke the lechwe in form, though it differs in its much darker
colour and striking markings. Some observers consider
it to be merely the northern form of the latter, which
perhaps has tended to lose its contrastive hues in the
course of its southern progress, as indicated by the dark
type foimd near Lake Mweru. This very handsome

156 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

antelope is found on the Bahr-el-Ghazal, among the White
Nile sudd, and in other suitable parts of the southern
Sudan. A few may often be seen from the steamer on
the tongue of land at the junction of the Bahr-el-Ghazal
and the Bahr-el-Ghebel.

The following is extracted from Mr. E. N. Buxton's
account of an expedition to secure some specimens :

" As a general rule, Mrs. Gray's antelopes are hidden
when standing ' um suf,' as the common reed grass is
called, which covers vast expanses ; but when a herd
starts running, a number of black points — the tips of
horns and ears — become visible, apparently skimming
over the top of the grass like a flight of swallows. . . .
They have a curious gait, carrying head and neck very
low, which is a part of their secretive habits. . . . The
species is in no danger, as there are wide regions frequented
by them, which are practically inaccessible from the river.
The natives hunt them with dogs, concealing themselves
in the reeds, and spear them when they rush for cover.
We saw loin-cloths made of the skins of these animals
worn by women. I do not think they are much preyed
upon by lions or leopards, at least I saw no tracks of these
animals, and it is obvious that the antelopes could not
be easily approached by them when they are standing,
as is their wont, in shallow water. The peculiar colour
of the old males — nearly black, with a large white patch
on the withers — is only attained by a small percentage of
the herd. At a later stage, in a more open place, I had a
good sight of a large herd ; I counted seventy, and, as
far as I could make out, there were not more than three
or four black males accompanying them, the remainder,
whether male or female, being fawn coloured."

The Puku. General colour, a rich orange-yellow ;
a small tuft of black hairs marks the opening of the

WATERBUCK BAYED BY DOGS

WATtRBUCK BAYED BY DOGS

158 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

glands beneath the eyes, the ears have black tips ; horns
are stout, with a slight forward and outward curve at the
base, and with the tips directed forwards, strongly ringed
for the greater part of their length.

The puku stands a couple of inches or so less at the
shoulder than the lechwe (about thirty-nine inches), and
is of stout build. It extends from the Zambezi through
Northern Rhodesia as far as Lake Mweru.

It is less aquatic in habit than the lechwe, and approaches
in this respect rather to the waterbuck, being found close
to, but not in, the water. Where numerous, the species
is foimd congregated in large herds, and a dozen years
ago they were to be seen in great numbers on the swampy
plains bordering the Kafue River in north-west Rhodesia.

The Uganda Cob. This is a local variety of the
typical Buffon's Cob, and its range extends from the
southern shores of Lake Victoria through Uganda. It is
found associated in very large herds, and in appearance
and size approaches rather closely to the puku.

Uganda cobs are fond of open rather swampy plains in
the neighbourhood of rivers or permanent water. I found
them in great numbers near Kabulamuliro in Uganda, in
a spot where, the swamp grass having been burned, the
young shoots were coming up fresh and green. They
were very unsuspicious animals and allowed approach to
sixty or seventy yards, without any necessity whatever
for concealment. When they did make off, it was only
for a distance of a hundred yards or so, when they would
stop and recommence feeding. The rams seemed to like
climbing on to the top of the numerous large ant-heaps
which studded the plain, whence they could have a good
view of the surrounding country. A herd was very often
accompanied by a single bohor reedbuck, which, grazing
slightly apart, always appeared very much more on the

ANTELOPES 159

alert than the cobs, and was always the first to set the
example of departure.

The typical race ranges through Western Africa north
of the Equator, and eastwards through the Sudan.

Vaughan's Cob. Apparently intermediate between
the Uganda cob and the white-eared cob, is found to the
west of the Upper Nile.

The White-eared Cob. Is found along the various
branches of the Upper Nile, between Bor and the Sobat.

The Reedbucks. These animals are in some respects
not unlike the cobs, but are generally of smaller size and
have very bushy and short tails, they also have glandular
and naked spots on the side of the head below the ears.

The Common Reedbuck. This antelope is still found
somewhat sparingly in the Cape Colony. It is common
in the lowlands of Natal and Zululand, the Transvaal
bush country, Ngamiland, German South- West Africa,
Rhodesia, both north and south of the Zambezi, to Angola
on the west and Nyasaland and Mo9ambique on the east.
Lately the species has been discovered to exist so far
north as the southern Sudan.

Reedbuck favour what are known in South Africa as
" vleis," that is to say, grassy or reedy valleys near
streams or permanent water of some kind ; occasionally
they are met with in thin bush. Although partial to the
close proximity of w-ater, they appear to avoid entering it,
nor have I ever seen or heard of them taking to it when
pursued, as do waterbuck and impala. They associate
in family parties of three or four, and solitary rams are
often seen. Their pace is not great, and they are cursed
with an inquisitiveness which often proves fatal to
them. When frightened they move off with a rocking-
horse action, the quarters thrown high with every stride,
and the bushy tail erected fanwise over the rump.

i6o ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

The alarm signal and general call of the animal is a
shrill and distinctive whistle. When camping near their
haunts this note will be heard all through the hours of
darkness, and is one of the most typical of African night
sounds. When not used to being disturbed the reedbuck
become extraordinarily confiding ; often I have passed
ewes lying down at close quarters, which did not even take
the trouble to get up, and others of both sexes, suddenly
startled from sleep, will stand staring in astonishment, the
idea of danger apparently not occurring to them. Their
food consists entirely of grass, so far as I have noticed.

Undoubtedly, the shooting season in the Transvaal,
when prolonged into August, interferes greatly with the
breeding of reedbuck, and causes many young lambs,
through the death of their mothers, to perish of starvation,
or fall victims to the smaller carnivora. The rams fight
fiercely at times, and a good many of the combats have
fatal results.

Reedbuck show a remarkable partiality for the neigh-
bourhood of human habitations, and at night are sad
depredators of growing crops and garden produce, unless
efficient means are taken to keep them out — a precaution
not popular with the natives of Africa. Several albino,
that is pure white reedbucks, have been seen at various
times in the Sabi Game Reserve. When captured full-
grown, reedbuck are difficult to tame, being quite unlike
impala in this respect.

I have 'always considered the meat excellent, though
some epicures appear to take exception to it.

The Mountain Reedbuck. This species is generally
referred to in South Africa by its Dutch name of rooi
rhebok. It is spread through the eastern part of Cape
Colony, Natal, Zululand, Swaziland, Orange Free State,
the Transvaal, and Bechuanaland, and appears in East

ANTELOPES i6i

Africa as a separate sub-species known as Chanler's
mountain reedbuck, and in Abyssinia under the name of
the Shoan mountain reedbuck.

Rooi rhebok favour the lower slopes of hills where
there are many rocks and loose stones, mingled with plenty
of scattered bush and long grass. They are very wary
animals, and partly on that account, and partly because
of the noise necessarily made in moving over the stony
ground when approaching them, they are difficult to get
near. When disturbed they usually run round and round
the hill a short way below the top, stopping in the open
valleys and necks between adjoining features, to see if
they are still pursued. They seldom move more than
three or four hundred yards before pulling up to look
back. The ears are so long and slender, and the horns
so short, that, except for their smaller size, the females,
in the absence of a pair of field-glasses, might easily be
mistaken for males at a distance. They are found in
parties of sometimes as many as eight individuals. Their
method of moving is similar to that of the cormnon reed-
buck and their fanhke tails are spread over the back in
the same way. Their call is a shrill whistle scarcely
distinguishable from that of their cousin.

Rooi rhebok are grass eaters. After dark they come off
the hills and feed down towards the nearest water, near
which they remain during the night, getting back to the
rough ground before dawn. They drink once or twice
during the night, according to the state of the atmosphere ;
so far as we have been able to observe their habits in the
Reserve, when the weather is hot and dry they do so on
first getting down to the water, and again just before
leaving its neighbourhood. When looking for these
animals it is useful to remember that it is the sides, and
not the tops of the hills, which they affect.

BOOK II L

i62 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA

The Bohor Reedbuck. The bohor reedbuck, in
several local races, is spread over western and northern
Africa from Gambia to Abyssinia, including the Sudan,
Uganda and East Africa. In the Nile race the horns
take a great outward spread, which gives them a very
distinctive appearance.

These reedbucks are generally met with in family
parties, and the single males have a way of attaching
themselves to the herds of Uganda cob, which affect the
same coimtry, namely, open vleis and bush or swamp
land. They like the neighbourhood of water, and seem
to be on the move until pretty late in the day. Their
action in moving off is much less pronounced than that
of typical reedbuck, and the head appears to be held
straight out and low ; the bushy tail is spread, however,
in the manner characteristic of the other species. They
are altogether seemingly more alert and active animals
than the latter, and the pace at which they move is
considerable.

The Grey or Vaal Rhebuck. This animal has woolly
fur, a large bare nose, and no gland patches imder the
ears, such as have members of the preceding genus.
The horns are nearly vertical, ringed, and straight, in
fact, except for their greater size, much Uke those of the
steenbuck.

The rhebuck is found only south of the Zambezi River,
and is restricted mainly to the great moimtain ranges
and their immediate neighbourhood. Its existence north
of the Limpopo does not seem to be well authenticated.

Unlike the mountain reedbuck, this species is generally
foimd on the flat tops of the table mountains which are
so common in South Africa, as well as on the higher levels
of the ranges. It goes in small parties, and when making
off, the rocking-horse action is very pronounced, the hind-

ANTELOPES 163

quarters being flung high into the air at each stride and
the tail spread out fanwise over the back. The alarm
note is a sharp cough. Rhebuck are grass feeders, and
descend at night to drink after the manner of the mountain
reedbuck.

L2

APPENDIX
ETHIOPIAN UNGULATE MAMMALS

Class MAMMALIA

Order UNGULATA (hoofed mammals)

Sub-order ARTIODACTYLA (even-toed ungulates)

Division PECORA (ruminants of above Sub-order)

Family bovid^ (hollow-horned ruminants)

GENUS

Buhalis

Damaliscns

Connochoeies

Subfamily Bubalince

SPECIES

boselaphus

major

tora

swaynei

cokei

caama

lelwel

neumanni

lichtensteini

hunteri

corrigum

pygargus

albifrons

lunaius

gnu

taurinus

„ alhojuhatus

I6S

ENGLISH NAME

Bubal Hartebeest
Western Hartebeest
Tora Hartebeest
Swayne's Hartebeest
Coke's Hartebeest
Cape Hartebeest
Lelwel Hartebeest.
Neumann's Hartebeest
Lichtenstein's Hartebeest
Hunter's Hartebeest
Topi or Tiang
Bontebuck
Blesbuck
Tsessebe

Black Wildebeest
Blue Wildebeest
White-bearded Wilde-
beest

i66

APPENDIX

Subfamily Cephalophince

GENUS

SPECIES

ENGLISH NAME

Cephalophus

gn'wwt

Duiker

J J

coyowa/ws

Crowned Duiker

j>

sylvicuUor

Yellow-backed Duiker

>>

coxi

Rhodesian Yellow-
backed Duiker

>»

iiuriensis

Ituri Yellow-backed
Duiker

»>

jentinki

Jentink's Duiker

>»

spadix

Abbott's Duiker

>»

natalensis

Red Duiker

>»

centralis

Ituri Red Duiker

nigrifons

Black-faced Duiker

>>

claudi

Alexander's Duiker

>>

ruhidus

Ruddy Duiker

>>

weynsi

Wejm's Duiker

>»

johnstoni

Johnston's Duiker

»'

ignifer

Isaac's Duiker

»>

harveyi

Harvey's Duiker

>)

robertsi

Robert's Duiker

>»

leopoldi

Leopold's Duiker

If

leucogaster

White- bellied Duiker

>>

dofsalis

Bay Duiker

>y

custaneus

Chestnut Duiker

„

leucochilus

White-lipped Duiker

,,

ogilhyi

Ogilby's Duiker

>»

hrookei

Brooke's Duiker

>»

callipygus

Peter's Duiker

>i

rufllatus

Red-flanked Duiker

>>

doricB

Banded Duiker

>>

walkeri

Walker's Duiker

leucoprosopus

White-faced Duiker

,

niger

Black Duiker

>>

maxwelli

Maxwell's Duiker

»»

melanorheus

Black-rumped Duiker

>»

cequatorialis

Uganda Duiker

>l

monticola

Blue Duiker

APPENDIX 167

GENUS

SPECIES

ENGLISH NAME

Cephalophus

«yas<^

Nyasa Blue Duiker

,j

hecki

Heck's Duiker

„

lugens

Urori Duiker

"

emini

Emin's Duiker

Subfamily NeotragincB

Ofeotragus

Ofeotragus

Klipspringer

Ourebia

scoparia

Oribi

n

hastata

Peter's Oribi

»>

nigricaudata

Gambian Oribi

ft

montana

Abyssinian Oribi

»t

kenyce

Kenia Oribi

>y

haggardi

Haggard's Oribi

,,

goslingi

Gosling's Oribi

»».

cottoni

Cotton's Oribi

Raphicerus

campestris

Steenbuck

,,

sharpei

Sharpe's Steenbuck

Nototragus

melanotis

Grysbuck

Nesotragus

pygmoeus

Royal Antelope

,,

hatesi

Bates' Pigmy Antelope

i>

harrisoni

Harrison's Pigmy Aiite-
lope

>j

moschatus

Suni

n

livingstoniamis

Livingstone's Antelope

»>

zuluensis

Southern Livingstone's
Antelope

Madoqua

saltiana

Salt's Dik-dik

>y

phillipsi

Phillip's Dik-dik

hararensis

Harar Dik-dik

J

erlangeri

Erlanger's Dik-dik

damarensis

Damara Dik-dik

kirki

Kirk's Dik-dik

thomasi

Thomas's Dik-dik

cavendishi

Cavendish's Dik-dik

guntheri

Gunther's Dik-dik

nassoguUata

White-spotted Dik-dik

i68

APPENDIX

Subfamily Cervicaprince

GENUS

SPECIES

ENGLISH NAME

Kohus

ellipsiprymnus

Waterbuck

defassa

Sing-sing Waterbuck

maria

Mrs. Gray's Waterbuck

leucotis

White-eared Cob

vaughani

Vaughan's Cob

coha

Buff on' s Cob

nigricans

Dusky Cob

vardoni

Puku

leche

Lechwe

smithermani

Black Lechwe

Cervicapra

arundinum

Reedbuck

>>

fulvorufula

Mountain Reedbuck
(Rooi Rhebok)

jj

redunca

Bohor Reedbuck

Pelea

capreolus

Grey or Vaal Rhebuck

Subfamily Antilopince

Mfyceros

melampus

Impala

,,

petersi

Angola Impala

Aniidorcas

euchore

Springbuck

Gazella

dorcas

Dorcas Gazelle

spekei

Speke's Gazelle

pelzelni

Pelzeln's Gazelle

leptoceros

Loder's Gazelle

isahella

Isabelle Gazelle

tilonura

Heuglin's Gazelle

rufifrons

Red-fronted Gazelle.

thomsoni

Thomson's Gazelle

granti

Grant's Gazelle

soemmerringi

Sommerring's Gazelle

dama

Dama Gazelle

Ammadorcas

clarkei

Clarke's Gazelle

Lithocranius

walleri

Waller's Gazelle

Do

rcotragus

megalotis

Beira

APPENDIX

169

Subfamily Hippotragincs

GENUS SPECIES ENGLISH NAME

Hippoiragus equinus Roan Antleope

,, iiiger Sable Antelope

Oryx gazella Gemsbuck

,, heisa Beisa

„ ,, callotis • Fringe-eared Oryx

leucoryx White Oryx

Addax nasomaculatus Addax

Subfamily Tragelaphince

Tragelaphus

scriptus

Bushbuck

>»

angasi

Inyala

»>

huxtoni

Mountain Inyala

>>

spekei

Situtunga

Strepsiceros

strepsiceros

Kudu

»>

imherhis

Lesser Kudu

BoOcercus

euryceros

Bongo

Tauroiragus

oryx

Eland

>>

derbianus

Lord Derby's Eland

Subfamily

BovincB

Bos

caffer

African Buffalo

Subfamily CaprincB

Ovis

lervia

African Wild Sheep

Capra

nubiana

Nubian Ibex

"

vali

Abyssinian Ibex

Family giraffid^

Giraffa

capensis

Southern Giraffe

,,

reticulata

Somaliland Giraffe

Ocapia

johnstoni

Okapi

Division TRAGULINA
Family tragulid.e
Doreatherium aquaticum Water Chevrotain

170

APPENDIX

Division SUINA (non-ruminants)
Family HiPPOPOTAMiDiE

SPECIES ENGLISH NAME

Hippopotamus amphihius
liheriensis

Hippopotamus
Pigmy Hippopotamus

Family suid^

Potamochcerus chceropotamus
,, hassama

,, porcus

Hylochcerus meinertzhageni
Phacochcerus csthiopicus

Bush Pig

Abyssinian Bush Pig
Red River Hog
Forest Hog
Wart Hog

Suborder PERISSODACTYLA (odd-toed ungulates)
Family equid^
Equus asinus African Wild Ass

astnus
zebra
hurchelli
grevyi

Mountain Zebra
Burchell's Zebra
Grevy's Zebra

Rhinoceros

Procavia

Elephas

Family rhinocerotid^

simus White Rhinoceros

bicornis Black Rhinoceros

Sub-order HYRACOIDEA

Family procavid.e

capensis Rock Rabbit

arborea Tree Dassie

brucei Bruce's Dassie

(South African species only given)

Sub-order PROBOSCIDEA
africanus African Elephant

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