706 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



is treated with considerable respect by the local population, and thereby 

 enjoys a certain degree of immunity from molestation. It is absent from the 

 Luangwa Valley proper, and is very scarce generally in East Luangwa where 

 a special measure of protection is recommended, and occurs only very sparingly 

 and locally throughout North-Eastern Rhodesia as a whole. 



"Sable antelope are . . . being thinned out to the danger line" 

 in Northern Rhodesia (David Ross, in litt., February 14, 1936) . 



"Passing northwards of the Zambesi we find the Sable Antelope 

 recorded by Peters, in his 'Reise nach Mossambique,' as met with 

 in the Portuguese dominions west of Tette, and on the woody plains 

 of Sena. In Nyasaland Mr. Crawshay tells us it is not by any means 

 evenly distributed, but appears to be plentiful in some places. In 

 the Shire Highlands, as Sir Harry Johnston writes, the Sable is one 

 of the commonest Antelopes, . . . and we have seen many heads 

 obtained . . . from this district." (Sclater and Thomas, 1899, vol. 4, 

 p. 37.) 



In Nyasaland "Sable get progressively scarcer as one goes north 

 from the Bua River" (Wood, in Maydon, 1932, p. 320) . 



A dozen years previously the Sable was abundant in Katanga, 

 Belgian Congo, but it has been slaughtered to a point where it has 

 become very rare (Leplae, 1925, p. 91). 



This beautiful antelope formerly occurred abundantly in the 

 southeast of the Belgian Congo, from the Kasai River on the west to 

 Lake Tanganyika on the east, and from the southern boundary of 

 the Colony to latitude 7 S., from Kasai to Lualaba. From Lualaba 

 to Tanganyika its range extended more to the north, as far as the 

 Lukuga River. At present the Sable has been exterminated between 

 the Kasai and the Lubudi, a western tributary of the Lualaba. In 

 the remaining part of its range it has decreased to such an extent 

 that the Government has placed it on the list of protected animals. 

 The European occupation of Katanga, the development of public 

 works, and commercial hunting are the responsible factors. The 

 rare herds left have tried to find a refuge in the remotest and 

 wildest regions. There are probably not more than 1500-2000 head 

 left in the Congo. The prohibition of commercial hunting and of 

 the trade in trophies and other parts of the animal, in addition to the 

 protection now afforded by law (if really effective) , would save the 

 species from a most dangerous decrease in numbers. (A. J. Jobaert, 

 in Hit., November, 1936.) 



[The remaining subspecies of the Sable call for only brief 

 comment. 



The taxonomic status of the form occurring from Ngamiland 

 through the Caprivi into southeastern Angola has not been definitely 

 determined. If it should prove distinct, the name H. n. kaufmanni 



