i 4 2 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



magnificent of the antelopes of Africa. Its horns are 

 among the finest and most coveted hunting trophies 

 to be obtained in any part of the world. Long and 

 straight, tapering to sharp, spear-like points, annulated 

 for rather more than half their extent, they attain 

 in good average specimens from 38 to 43 inches. 

 The finest gemsbok horns yet recorded were in the 

 possession of the late Mr. J. S. Jameson ; they 

 measured no less than 3 feet n^ inches in length. 

 It is worthy of note that the horns of the females 

 are in this species finer, longer, and sharper than 

 those of the males. A bull's horns may be always 

 picked out by their shorter and blunter appearance. 

 The grand, spear-like sweep of these incomparable 

 horns is unique, and the fact that the gemsbok of 

 South Africa is always a difficult beast to find, and 

 by no means an easy one to stalk or gallop down, 

 will always render these trophies among the most 

 highly valued of all the African fauna prime rewards 

 of the hunter's skill and staying power. The best 

 gemsbok country in South Africa, the Northern 

 Kalahari, is at the same time the most dangerous. 

 Here, where troops of those fine antelope range in 

 desert security, the scant pits of water may be sixty 

 or eighty miles apart. If the hunter should miss 

 his direction and lose himself one of the simplest 

 things in the world in the trackless Kalahari he may 

 die of thirst unless rescued within a few days. 

 Horses cannot stand against thirst as can oxen, and 

 after two days without water will probably succumb. 

 Thenceforth the wanderer must trust to his own 



