THE ANTELOPES 



151 



natives for their skins, which are valued for various pur- 

 poses. When alarmed, they have a singular habit of 

 wheeling in a circle several times before running. They 

 are often seen with zebras and with other antelopes on the 

 great plains of Zululand. 



The most remarkable discovery of modern times was the 

 finding by Sir Harry Johnston in the heart of Africa of an 

 entirely new and remarkable antelopelike creature called 

 the okapi (frontispiece). It is supposed to be related to 

 the giraffe, and is allied to the fossil halladotherium. It 

 differs from all other animals, except the giraffe, in hav- 

 ing a very long 

 space between 

 the eyetooth and 

 the first molar. 

 The okapi is about 

 a third the size of 

 the giraffe. The 

 hair is smooth 

 like that of a 

 horse, and in gen- 

 eral appearance 

 it bears a close re- 

 semblance to the 

 eland ; but it has 

 on its hind quarters and fore legs stripes, calling to mind 

 those of the zebra. The early Egyptians were familiar 

 with it, according to Professor Wiedemann, who claims 

 that the head of the god Set is a copy of that of the okapi. 



The discoverer of the okapi also found in Uganda a 

 nQW five-horned giraffe, the ordinary form having but two, 



Fig. 128. — The Gnu. 



