282 ANTELOPES 



northern karoos, and thence through the Kalahari desert and the 

 plains of Damaraland to the open tracts of the Mossamedes district of 

 southern Angola, and possibly even so far as Benguela. To the 

 northward of the Chobi valley, as likewise in Khamaland, the species 

 seems to have been always unknown. From the greater portion of 

 the northern karoos of Cape Colony gemsbuck have disappeared for 

 more than half a century, although they were numerous there in 

 Gordon Cumming's time (1844). A few, however, still lingered on 

 the plains to the southward of the lower reaches of the Orange river 

 till at least comparatively modern times. On the Great Karoo of the 

 central districts of Cape Colony they ceased to exist long before I 846. 

 A few years ago, and probably also at the present day, the species 

 still abounded in the thirsty districts of the heart of the Kalahari. 



Why the old Dutch settlers should have called the gemsbuck 

 after the European chamois (whose name in the German cantons of 

 Switzerland is gems or gemse) is a question impossible to answer, as 

 both in appearance and habits the two animals, for members of one and 

 the same family, are about as unlike as can well be imagined. 



One of the best-established facts connected with the gemsbuck is 

 that, like several other species of antelopes, it is absolutely independent 

 of water, which in the heart of the Kalahari it cannot obtain for several 

 months in succession. This fact should tend to remove the scepticism 

 of many sporting writers as to the capacity of the Indian blackbuck 

 and gazelle for existing without water. In the Kalahari, as elsewhere, 

 gemsbuck go about in herds of considerable size ; the members of 

 which, despite the apparent scarcity of suitable food, seem always to 

 maintain themselves in first-class condition. This circumstance also 

 has a parallel among the ruminants of Asia, where some of the wild 

 sheep are found in country which does not look as though it had 

 fodder enough to keep mice in good condition. From a dozen to a 

 score is the usual number of individuals in a herd, but in rare instances 

 the total may reach as many as five-and-twenty, or even thirty. Old 

 bulls are, as usual, solitary. 



Naturally, gemsbuck are natives or inhabitants of open plains, or 

 plains sparsely dotted with scrub ; but where they have been much 

 hunted they display a tendency to seek shelter in thicker covert. 

 When in racing condition, these antelopes will try the staying powers 

 of the best South African horses, but can normally be ridden down by 

 a well-mounted hunter. A wounded gemsbuck at bay is an animal to 

 which both hunter and hound should give a wide berth ; and there 

 seems little doubt that the stories of lions being transfixed with the 



