THE SABLE ANTELOPE 1 37 



a specimen, sat up all night over the body to prevent 

 it being devoured by wild beasts ! A splendid bull, 

 cow, and calf — the first sable ever sent to France — 

 were eventually obtained by Delegorgue and placed in 

 the Museum of the Jardin des Plantes. About this 

 time also Delegorgue's friend, Wahlberg (afterwards 

 killed by an elephant) obtained specimens ; a sable 

 bull and two cows, collected by him, are in the Ley- 

 den Museum. Other hunters — Gordon Cummino-, 

 Baldwin, Selous — have pursued the sable and have 

 found it a sporting beast indeed, standing fiercely at 

 bay and often taking to the water like a hunted 

 stag — slashing out furiously at any dog hardy enough 

 to swim within range of its terrible horns. When 

 about to strike, sable draw in and lower the head 

 and approximate the forefeet ; a point usually neg- 

 lected by artists, who absurdly misrepresent it as 

 conducting a half-hearted defence, with widely 

 separated hoofs. The writer possesses a photo of a 

 menagerie specimen which used to charge the railings 

 of its pen ; in two instances snapshots were obtained, 

 showing this typical pose and amply confirming the 

 evidence of field observers. Wounded sable lie 

 down, and striking right and left soon make havoc of 

 a pack of dogs ; an instance is recorded where one 

 charged and killed a native hunter by driving a horn 

 into his body. 



Apart from molestation by man, the sable is liable 

 to the onslaughts of lion and hunting-dog; old males 



