THE ROAN ANTELOPE 65 



the " tackhaitsie of the Bechuanas " : the species 

 is correctly figured on plate xxvii. of the above- 

 mentioned work. The example from which the 

 figure was taken (a young bull) is still in the 

 National Collection. In spite of its great post 

 mortem age, the animal is in good preservation : 

 and it is most interesting to stand and contem- 

 plate this historic specimen, presented to the British 

 Museum by the very man who established the 

 identity of the tackhaitsie with the roan antelope, 

 and constituting a link between the present day 

 and the Africa of the long- vanished past, when all 

 the rivers of the interior were alive with bellow- 

 ing hippotami, when the lion infested every foun- 

 tain, and the spreading veldt teemed with 

 countless hartebeest and wildebeest, buffalo and 

 rhinoceros, elephant and giraffe. "Not very many 

 years ago," said Sir Andrew in 1840, "the animal 

 was frequently seen within the northern boundary 

 of the Cape Colony," and although the roan has 

 long disappeared from that region, it still lingers 

 in the Transvaal. A considerable amount of 

 information as regards its habits was collected by 

 Smith's friend Harris, and has been supplemented 

 by later writers. 



The roan antelope is stated to congregate in 

 small troops, composed of from five to a dozen 

 individuals, and usually including only one adult 

 bull : as with many other antelopes, solitary old 



