THE ROAN ANTELOPE 67 



regions immediately north of the Tarka mountains, 

 near the Bambosberg, in Cape Colony : Col. 

 Gordon, himself an eminent naturalist, had already 

 seen several native drawings of the mysterious 

 creature, and thoroughly believed in its existence. 

 Inspired with the hope of obtaining so marvellous 

 a trophy, Sir John himself made a diligent search 

 in the locality which the unicorn was supposed to 

 inhabit : and achieved the partial success of 

 discovering a rude drawing of the animal, sketched 

 by a Caffre on the wall of a deep cavern. The 

 unicorn was represented, together with a number 

 of other African animals, but unfortunately the 

 body and legs had been erased to give place to 

 the figure of an elephant : the mutilated drawing 

 was however copied, and is reproduced in Sir John's 

 "Travels in Africa," Vol. I., p. 311. The animal's 

 head is figured as possessing long ears, and set on 

 a stout neck, exactly like the roan antelope ; the 

 single horn is annulated at the base and curved in 

 its upper two-thirds (also like H. equinus) ; a 

 backwardly-directed mane adorns the neck. It is 

 true that the animal of the Tarka cavern is shown 

 with but one horn, and that growing out of the 

 forehead at an angle of 45° : but even a two- 

 horned animal like the roan, when seen sideways, 

 might seem to have only one, especially at the 

 respectful distance the natives would take care 

 to maintain between themselves and it : many 



