CH. xii] HARTEBEESTS, llEEDBUCKS 327 



after their discoverer. Governor Jackson, are totally 

 different from the harteheests of the Athi and the Sotik 

 countries, and are larger and finer in every way. One 

 bull 1 shot weigiied, in pieces, four hundred and seventy 

 pounds. No allowance was made for the spilt blood, 

 and, inasmucli as he had been hal-lalled. I think his live 

 weight would have been nearly four hundred and ninety 

 pounds. He was a big, full-grown bull, but not of 

 extraordinary size. Later I killed much bigger ones — 

 unusually fine specimens, which must have weighed 

 well over five hundred pounds. Tlie horns, which are 

 sometimes two feet long, are set on great bony pedicels, 

 so that the face seems long and homely even for a 

 hartebeest. The first two or three of these hartebeests 

 which I killed were shot at long range, for, like all 

 game, they are sometimes exceedingly wary ; but ^^'e 

 soon found that normally they were as tame as they 

 were plentiful. We frequently saw them close by the 

 herds of the l^oer settlers. They were the common 

 game of the plains. At times, of course, they were 

 difficult to approach : but again and again, usually 

 when we were riding, we came upon, not only in- 

 dividuals, but herds down wind and in plain ^•iew, 

 whicli permitted us to approach to within a liundred 

 yards before they definitely took flight. Their motions 

 look ungainly until they get into their full-speed stride. 

 They utter no sound save the usual hartebeest sneeze. 



Tliere were bohor reedbuck also — pretty creatures, 

 about the size of a whitetail deer, which lay close in 

 the reed beds, or in hollows among the tall grass, and 

 usually offered rather difficult running shots or v^ery 

 long standing shots. Still prettier were the little oribi. 

 These are grass antelopes, frequenting much the same 

 places as the duiker and steinbuck. and not much 



