XIV LENGTH OF GEMSBUCK HORNS 267 



she had run another hundred yards. She was 

 indeed a beautiful animal, and her horns the 

 handsomest, though by no means the longest, that 

 I have ever seen. They were most perfectly 

 symmetrical, and measured 43 inches in length ; but 

 being very thin and absolutely straight — gemsbuck 

 horns usually have a slight turn backwards — looked 

 longer than they actually were. 



In 1879 I shot another gemsbuck cow near the 

 Botletlie river with horns of exactly the same 

 length ; but these latter, being much thicker and 

 having a strong bend backwards, do not look their 

 full length. I think that I am correct in saying 

 that gemsbuck horns measuring over 42 inches in 

 length are quite exceptional. At any rate, I only 

 remember to have seen three pairs exceeding 43 

 inches. The one measuring 44^^ inches was shot 

 by a Boer on the Bodetlie river, and I purchased 

 it from him for our Natural History Museum, 

 where it now is ; whilst I have seen another pair 

 slighdy longer which was shot in the Kalahari 

 many years ago by the late Mr. W. Cotton Oswell. 

 But the longest pair I have ever seen I found in 

 the possession of a trader at Barclay West in 

 December 1880. He told me that he had got them 

 from a native hunter at Moroquain in the Southern 

 Kalahari, and gave them to me, and I gave them 

 to the late Mr. J. S. Jameson. I believe that this 

 is the longest pair of gemsbuck horns known, their 

 length being recorded in Mr. Rowland Ward's last 

 book of horn measurements as 47J inches. Besides 

 these heads I have mentioned, a few more pairs are 

 known in various collections which measure between 

 44 and 46 inches, but these are a few exceptionally 

 long pairs that have been picked out in the course 

 of many years from amongst the large number of 

 gemsbuck horns which are annually shot by natives 

 in different parts of the vast Kalahari desert, and 



