HUNTING IN SOUTHERN AFRICA. 221 



Cobus and Andries also came back during the night, having 

 galled the backs of both the horses, without obtaining any 

 tidings of the lost one. The whole of the following day was 

 passed in fruitless endeavors to recover the truant, and it 

 was not until six months afterwards, that we ascertained he 

 had returned to the farm on which he had been bred in the 

 New Hantam, a distance of five hundred miles. Continuing 

 our journey on the 14th of October, twenty-eight miles, 

 through a beautiful country abounding with trees and grass, 

 we reached the Lotlokane, the shallow channel of a periodical 

 river, said in the rainy season to contribute its mite to the 

 Molopo, which it joins some distance to the westward. At 

 this season it was perfectly dry; but we had fortunately 

 found a small pool of water on the road, at which we break- 

 fasted, after killing several hartebeests and sassaybes. The 

 skins of both these animals, and especially of the latter, are 

 in great demand amongst the savages, for Jcobos, or fur cloaks, 

 both on account of their brilliant colour and their supple na- 

 ture. They are cured by means of continual rubbing, 

 stretching, and scraping ; and for this purpose are constantly 

 carried about, and referred to as an amusement in moments 

 of leisure. The operation is rendered less tedious by the 

 constant addition of grease ; and less irksome, by savage 

 howlings and gruntings, intended to pass current for singing. 

 " The sassaybes, or crescent-horned antelope, and the 

 caama, hartebeest, are both members of the Acronotine 

 group, and are alike remarkable for their elevated withers, 

 drooping hind quarters, and triangular form. The colour 

 of the former is of a pompadour or purple violet, and of the 

 latter bright orange ; their legs and faces being eccentrically 

 marked as if with a brush of a sign painter. Their brain as 

 well as that of the gnoo, is filled with large white maggots 

 a phenomenon, of which, until I had received occular evi- 

 dence, I could not help being sceptical. And the horns of 

 the hartebeest are placed on the very summit of the head, 



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