THE WATER ANTELOPES.[12]
The NAGOR, the REITBOK, the LECHÈ, the AEQUITOON, the SING-SING, and the WATER-BUCKare closely allied African Antelopes, with good-sized horns (only present in the males), which are transversely wrinkled, curved forwards, and a little inwards at the tips. Most of them are water-loving animals, and abound in marshy districts on the banks of rivers.
The Nagor is a little more than two feet and a half in height at the shoulder, the horns being six inches long, and the tail ten inches. The colour of the long, loose hair is fulvous-brown above, white below. The Reitbok is of a grizzly ochreate colour. Its height is nearly three feet, the horns being twelve inches long. According to Dr. Kirk, the species is “commonly found feeding in small herds; in the heat of the day it rests in long grass, and may be approached within fifty yards before starting. It seldom runs far without stopping to look round. Before again making off it gives a shrill whistle, as it does often when first started. Should the female have young unable to run far, and danger near, she places her foot on the shoulder and presses it to the ground; after which it never moves until almost trodden upon, and is expected to remain in the same spot until the return of the mother.” The Lechè is of a pale brown colour above and white below. Sir John Kirk says it “is a water Antelope, frequenting damp, marshy places, and taking to impassable swamps, among reeds and papyrus. It goes in considerable herds, accompanied by several males, mingling often with the ‘Poku,’ another Antelope peculiar to that region (the valley of the Zambesi). In the distance the Lechè may be known by the peculiar way in which it allows its horns to recline back, almost touching the withers.” The POKU, Vardon’s Antelope of Livingstone, is smaller than the Lechè, and thicker in the neck; otherwise it closely resembles it.
ELAND.
ELAND.
The Sing-sing Antelope and Water-buck are much alike, the former wanting a white elliptical patch, which is found near the base of the tail in the latter. The body colour is a greyish-brown. Long hair on the neck produces a mane. At the shoulder they stand four feet six inches, and the pale horns are two feet and a half long. “The Water Antelope,” says Mr. Drummond, “is an extremely fine animal, and so plentiful that there are, perhaps, more of them shot than of any of the other large Antelopes. The large ringed horns which, in the male, crown its brow, bear a strong resemblance tothose of the Reedbuck [Reitbok], while the habits and general appearance of both species are almost identical. Both frequent thickets and reedy places near water, and are principally found in pairs or small groups. The hair of the species [of Water-buck] inhabiting Eastern Africa is very long and coarse, though that of the one found in Central Africa [the Sing-Sing] is remarkably soft, and is highly prized by the natives as being so.”
The REH-BOKof South Africa, “though almost approaching a Fallow Deer in size, more nearly,” says Mr. Drummond, “resembles a Chamois in other particulars; indeed, it has been called the African Chamois, and so far deserves the title, that it certainly possesses many of the characteristics and habits of the European species—decidedly more so than any other of the Antelope genus found in South Africa, with the exception of the Klipspringer. Their colour is light grey, the hair being somewhat long and coarse, and the horns are straight [bent forwards at the tips], and by no means unusually large for the animal’s size. They are never found but on the bare hills, among rocks and stones, and their powers of springing are wonderful. It seems extraordinary how their delicate limbs escape injury, when they take bound after bound like an indiarubber ball, in places that a Cat would shudder at.” According to Major C. H. Smith, “it is an animal of great swiftness, moving with wonderful rapidity by lengthened stretches, close to the ground, so as to seem to glide over the desert like a mist driven by the winds, and, favoured by the indistinct colours of the fur, is immediately out of sight. The Bushmen and western tribes [of South Africa] make lance-heads, awls, and other tools of the horns, and occasionally cloaks of their skins for the women.”
THE ELAND.[13]
This fine species attains to the size of an Ox, the bull standing six feet and a half at the withers. Attempts have within the last few years been made to breed it in England for the sake of its flesh, which is as good as the best beef. It is, however, found to be impossible to get the price sufficiently low for market purposes. Two varieties are known, one of a pale fawn colour from Central Africa, the other, from South Africa, of a bright yellow tan colour, marked transversely with narrow white lines, about fifteen in number, running from a black line which goes along the back, to the belly. These marks are present in all young individuals, and disappear or fade considerably in the adults. The full-grown bull has a broad tuft of lengthy slight brown hair on the forehead, between and in front of the horns, which are situated some distance behind the eyes, being straight, a foot and a half in length, and at their bases carrying a thick and conspicuous screw-like ridge which extends in some cases nearly to their ends. In the females the horns are never quite so large as in the males. A large dewlap hangs from the throats of the bulls, whilst a dark, short mane continues from the forehead backwards. The tail is about two feet and a quarter in length, with a large tuft of brown hair at its end.
According to Captain W. Cornwallis Harris, “in size and shape the body of the male Eland resembles that of a well-conditioned Guzerat Ox, not unfrequently attaining the height of nineteen hands, and weighing two thousand pounds. The head is strictly that of an Antelope, light, graceful, and bony, with a pair of magnificent straight horns, about two feet in length, spirally ringed, and pointed backwards. A broad and deep dewlap fringed with brown hair reaches to the knee. The colour varies considerably with the age, being dun in some, in others an ashy blue with a tinge of ochre; and in many also sandy-grey approaching to white. The flesh is esteemed by all classes in Africa above that of any other animal; in grain and colour it resembles beef, but is better tasted and more delicate, possessing a pure game flavour, and the quantity of fat with which it is interlarded is surprising, greatly exceeding that of any other game quadruped with which I am acquainted. The female is smaller and of slighter form, with less ponderous horns.”
When writing on the hunting of these creatures, known in South Africa as theImpoofo, the same author remarks that, “notwithstanding the unwieldy shape of these animals, they had at first greatly exceeded the speed of our jaded horses, but being pushed they soon separated; their sleek coats turned first blue and then white with froth; the foam fell from their mouths and nostrils, and the perspiration from their sides. Their pace gradually slackened, and with their full brilliant eyes turned imploring towards us, at the end of a mile, each was laid low by a single bullet.”
With reference to these animals, the Hon. W. H. Drummond tells us that “more Eland are killed from horseback than on foot; for as it is utterly out of the question to make a practice of running them down, and as they generally inhabit the treeless flats, where they cannot, except by chance, be stalked, while the uncertainty of their movements and their keeping out of cover render it impossible to find them, like the large animals, by the aid of their spoor, some more certain method is needed than the chance meetings which occur to the hunter when in pursuit of other game, more especially as their hide is held in great repute by the Dutch colonists, who make trek-tows for their wagons, and reins for their oxen from it, even preferring it to that of a Buffalo. The demand thus induced has so diminished their numbers as to have restricted this noble Antelope to a few favoured localities, even in which it is becoming more scarce every day, while not many years ago it formed a component part of almost every landscape in the southern and eastern portions of Africa.”
THE KOODOO.[14]
KOODOO.
KOODOO.
This is one of the handsomest of all the Antelopes. It is more slender in build and smaller than the Eland, which it somewhat resembles. The horns are about four feet long, and form most graceful open spirals like corkscrews, there being a ridge along their whole length. The females are hornless. The ear is large and trumpet-shaped, moved at the slightest noise towards its source. The eyes are large and liquid. The body colour is slaty-grey, with transverse white markings, like those on the striped variety of the Eland. A small mane extends along the neck and withers, and another from the chin to the throat and breast. The tail is of moderate length, and hairy. This species is most abundant in Southern Africa, but it extends as high as Abyssinia. It is able to travel with very great speed, and makes prodigious bounds. It stands about five feet in height at the shoulders.
“Majestic in its carriage,” writes Captain Harris, with all the enthusiasm of a true sportsman, “and brilliant in its colour, this species may with propriety be styled the king of the tribe. Other Antelopes are stately, elegant, or curious, but the solitude-seeking Koodoo is absolutely regal! The ground colour is a lively French grey approaching to blue, with several transverse white bands passing over the back and loins: a copious mane, and deeply fringed, tricoloured dewlap, setting off a pair ofponderous yet symmetrical horns, spirally twisted, and exceeding three feet in length. These are thrown along the back as the stately wearer dashes through the mazes of the forest or clambers the mountain-side. The old bulls are invariably found apart from the females, which herd together in small troops, and are destitute of horns.”
ANGAS’ HARNESSED ANTELOPE.[15]
This elegant animal, much like the Koodoo in its proportions, stands three feet four inches high at the shoulders. In the male, which alone bears horns, these appendages are nearly two feet long, twisted and sub-lyrate, having sharply-pointed tips of a pale straw colour, their other parts being of a brownish-black, deeply ridged for half their length from their bases. The colour of the body is greyish-black, tinged with purplish-brown and ochre, white transverse stripes, like those of the Koodoo, being present on the neck, flanks, and cheeks. A black mane courses down the neck, whilst from the neck and belly depends long shaggy hair in abundance, reaching to the knees. The ears are large, and the face is of a bright sienna-brown. The tail is one foot eight inches long, black above, with under side and tip white. The female is small, and of a bright rufous colour, with transverse stripes more numerous than in the male.
This species is found in troops of eight or ten together, feeding on the mimosa bushes in the Zulu country. Closely allied to it is a second from Central Africa, which is of a dull bay, nearly uniform, colour, the horns reaching thirty inches in length. It is known as Speke’s Antelope.