92 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



the description of this individual is so accurate as 

 to leave no doubt whatever as to the nature of the 

 species met with. 



" Tail of long black hair, three feet three inches, 

 resembling that of a horse, neck uncommonly 

 thick in proportion to the body. It had a mane, 

 very unlike that of the gnoo, flowing over its 

 shoulders and continuing to the middle of the 

 back. The forehead, like that of the buffalo, was 

 covered with an osseous excrescence, being in 

 fact the roots of the horns, which were terminated 

 in fine pointed extremities, like that of the gnoo. 

 From the centre of the forehead to the nose was 

 an arched or convex protuberance, covered with 

 a ridge of long black hair : and on each cheek, a 

 little below the eye, was a remarkable spot of 

 circular form, rather more than an inch in diameter, 



naked and apparently glandulous close 



under these glands grew tufts of black hair . . . 

 ... a long black beard, like that of the gnoo, 

 covered the throat from the chin to the breast : 

 the nose and mouth were like those of an ox, but 

 more broad and flat : the general hue of the body 

 was that of an ash-coloured grey." 1 



Subsequent travellers have made us abundantly 

 familiar with the blue wildebeest. Burchell who 

 though not the discoverer of the species, was the 

 first to introduce it to European museums 



i Sir John Barrow : "Journey to the Country of the Boshuanas." 



