THE HARTEBEEST IN SOUTH AFRICA 233 



wildebeest, on the contrary, crossed the plains and 

 drank every night, or nearly every night. The 

 springboks on the flats, although grazing nearer the 

 river, visited the water little if at all. Upon the 

 great salt-pans round about the so-called Lake 

 Komadau — a vast mass of swamp and reed-beds, in 

 which the Botletli river loses itself — and on the 

 open plains surrounding, hartebeests are also found, 

 as also about the N'twetwe salt-pans north of Lake 

 Komadau. 



The rooi (red) hartebeest, as the up-country 

 Boers term him, to distinguish him from his cousin 

 the tsesseby {Alcelaphits hmahis), which they term 

 the bastard hartebeest, or Zulu hartebeest, stands 

 in height rather more than 4 ft, at the withers, 

 which are elevated and slightly humped. Occa- 

 sional specimens will measure nearly 5 ft., but the 

 average may be taken as about 4 ft. In extreme 

 length the antelope measures rather more than 

 8 ft. The head and face are inordinately — nay, 

 absurdly — long. The horns are stout, strongly corru- 

 gated, and of very peculiar shape. Placed high 

 upon a lofty frontal bone, they rise for several inches, 

 then curve slightly forward, afterwards turning at an 

 abrupt angle sharply back. In the old bulls the 

 horns are thick and massive, and often much worn 

 and blunted at the points ; those of the females are 

 more slender. 



