THE ANTELOPES AND GAZELLES 171 



twenty years ago, and met with this antelope, 

 christened it incontinently the " Water Koodoo." 

 The finest pair of situtunga horns yet recorded 

 come from Lake Mweru, and measure 35!- inches 

 over the curve and 28^ inches straight. As with the 

 lechwe, the hoofs are extraordinarily prolonged, and 

 the underparts, from the false hoofs downwards, are 

 devoid of hair. A good ram will stand about 3 feet 

 5 inches at the withers. 



The situtunga is a most difficult beast to catch 

 sight of, and an even more difficult beast to shoot. 

 Quitting the swamps and reed beds only at nightfall, 

 it lies up on some secluded islet, well sheltered by 

 dwarf palms and reeds, to return at dawn to its 

 watery haunts again. Even Mr. Selous, that most 

 indefatigable of hunters, has never had the good fortune 

 to shoot one of this species, although he has picked 

 up a dead ram, manifestly killed in fighting, among 

 the Chobi marshes, and the remains of another 

 killed by a leopard. Paddling about in a native 

 dug-out canoe among the vast papyrus and reed 

 swamps of the South Central African river systems, 

 the gunner, if he can persuade the natives to take 

 him out, may perhaps run the chance of getting a 

 shot at these most shy and retiring antelopes. But 

 that chance is a remote one. The keen-eyed natives 

 themselves occasionally spot one of these antelopes, 

 where it has sunk itself from observation, and spear 

 it in that position. And at times the reed beds are 

 fired and the animals driven into the more open 

 channels, where they can be assegaied as they swim 



