THE LARGER EAST AFRICAN ANTELOPES 



must have missed him, from the speed he maintained before 

 he disappeared from our sight. A few minutes after this, 

 our whole caravan sat down for its lunch and " pumzika," 

 or rest, which the porters always enjoy whenever they have 

 a chance. After more than an hour's rest we took up our 

 trail again, and when we had marched at least three miles 

 farther we saw a great many vultures circling close over 

 the ground some fifty yards away from the little path 

 which we were following. Being curious to see what kind 

 of animal the vultures were about to devour, I ordered a 

 halt and started ofif to investigate. Imagine my surprise 

 when I here found the beautiful impala, which we did not 

 even think I had wounded, and which had run all this dis- 

 tance before it expired! When cutting the animal open 

 we found that the bullet had gone right through the cavity 

 of the chest, severing one of the large arteries, which re- 

 sulted in the filling up of the whole cavity and intestines 

 with blood before the animal succumbed. 



The meat of the impala, as well as that of the water 

 buck, is not very appetizing, and is, particularly if the ani- 

 mal is old, or has been killed at the end of the dry season, 

 quite bitter. The impala seems to belong to the " exclusive 

 set," for I have never found impalas feeding together with 

 animals of any other kind as so many other antelopes do. 

 Of course It is Impossible for me to state positively that the 

 impala never does mingle with other animals, but It has 

 never come under my own notice, and none of the sports- 

 men and natives, whom I questioned on this topic, had ob- 

 served the same. 



The oryx is another beautiful antelope. It is some- 

 what larger than the Impala, standing as high as four feet 



183 



