THE LARGER EAST AFRICAN ANTELOPES 



bull roan finished two or three hunting dogs before the 

 sportsman got a chance to kill it with a shot at close range. 



According to many hunters' opinion, the sable is the 

 most beautiful of the large antelope family. He is some- 

 what smaller in the body than his cousin, the roan, but his 

 horns are considerably larger and more beautiful, not sel- 

 dom attaining a length of forty to forty-five inches, meas- 

 ured along the curve. At the base of the same there is 

 a kind of bump over the eyes, from which the horns grace- 

 fully sweep backward in the same shape as those of the 

 roan, and ending also in very sharp points. The year 

 rings are well developed and beautifully marked, reaching 

 almost to within three inches of the tips. The sable ante- 

 lope has even more of a mane than the roan, and the 

 patches of white below the eyes run out into a point near 

 the nostrils, where they join the white streaks of the under 

 jaw. The color of the upper part of the sable antelope's 

 body is of a rich glossy black, strangely contrasted with 

 the almost snow-white tint of his belly. 



The sable is now rarely ever found south of the Orange 

 River, and does not go farther north than to the southern 

 part of British East Africa. In this protectorate he is 

 only found in the hot and damp coast belt south and 

 southwest of Mombasa. The richly wooded Shimba Hills, 

 a day and a half's march from Mombasa, seem to be one 

 of the favorite feeding grounds of this beautiful antelope. 

 These hills can be reached either by marching overland 

 most of the way, or else by hiring a dhow, which may takcv 

 the hunting party for a good many miles southwest over 

 the Kilindini Bay, from where it is only a short day's 

 march to the shooting grounds. As the Shimba Hills and 



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