140 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



many as 20o. They are not difficult beasts to stalk, 

 sheltering as they do in park-like, open woodland 

 and scattered bush, where the gunner, if the wind is 

 right, can approach with no great trouble. When 

 disturbed they dart off at speed, spreading out in a 

 longish line. When approached in thick bush, they 

 seem often unable to make out the whereabouts of 

 the sportsman's shot, and a right and left, or even 

 three buck, may be thus occasionally obtained. With 

 smokeless powder this is even more feasible. Pallah 

 take a good deal of killing, and unless mortally 

 wounded the gunner may lose his buck in the dense 

 bush to which the animals resort for sanctuary. The 

 flesh, if the antelope is in good condition, is capital 

 eating. The Boers always call these animals Rooibok 

 (red buck). Native names are Pallah of the Bechu- 

 anas and Basutos ; Impala of the Zulus, Matabele, 

 Swazis, and Matonga ; Eepala of Makalakas ; Kugar 

 of Masarwas ; Nswala of Zambesi and Central African 

 natives, and of the Swahilis. 



THE GEMSBOK 



The noble gemsbok (Oryx ga-zella\ the oryx of 

 South Africa, one of the finest and most notable of 

 all the more important African antelopes, has been 

 known to South African colonists for many genera- 

 tions. First discovered by the Boers in the earlier part 

 of the eighteenth century, when the early colonists 

 penetrated from the Cape settlements to the Great 

 Karroo, it has, notwithstanding much persecution, 



