HUNTING GEMSBOKS. 93 



for gemsbok, with a fine old ball feeding at a little dis- 

 tance by himself, their long, sharp horns glancing in 

 the morning sun like the cheese-toasters of a troop of 

 dragoons. I scarcely allowed myself a moment to feast 

 my eyes on the thrilling sight before me, when I re- 

 turned to my boys, and with them concerted a plan to 

 circumvent them.* 



Wc agreed that Jacob and I should endeavor to ride 

 by a circuitous course a long way to windward of the 

 herd, and that Cobus should then give chase and drive 

 them toward us. The wind was westerly, but the dis- 

 trict to which this herd seemed to belong unfortunate- 

 ly lay to the northward. Jacob and I rode steadily on, 

 occasionally looking behind us, and, presently taking 

 up a commanding position, strained our eyes in the di- 



* At this time I was very much in the dark as to the speeJ of the 

 gemsbok, having been led by a friend to believe that a person even 

 of my vveight, if tolerably mounted, could invariably, after a long chase, 

 ride right nito them. This, however, is not the case. My friend was' 

 deceived in the opinion which he had formed. The fact of the matter 

 was, that hu had been hunting a long way to windward of a party who 

 were hunting on the same plains v/ith him, and several of the ggmsboks 

 which he had killed had previously been severely chased by the other 

 party. In the whole course of my adventures with gemsbok I only re- 

 member four occasions, when mounted on the pick of my stud (which 

 I nearly sacrificed in the attempt), that alone and unassisted I succeed- 

 ed in riding the oryx to a stand-still. The plan which I adopted, and 

 which is generally used by the Boers, was to mount my light Hotten- 

 tots or Bushmen on horses of great endurance, and thus, as it were, 

 convert them into greyhounds, with which I coursed the gemsbok as 

 we do stags in Scotland with our rough deer-hounds. A " tail-on-end" 

 chase is sometimes saved, in parts where the hunter, from a previous 

 knowledge of the country, knows the course which the gemsbok will 

 take; when, having first discovered the herd, the after-rider is directed 

 to remain quiet until the hunter shall have proceeded by a wide semi- 

 circular course some miles to windward of the herd, which being ac 

 complished. the Hottentot gives the troop a tremendous burst toward 

 his master, who, by riding hard for their line, generally manages to get 

 within easy shot as the panting herd strains past him. J 



