AFRICAN ANTELOPE 



In the cool of the early mornings, when on the march, 

 I usually walked through the jungle ahead of the string 

 of camels, with my gun often disturbing the little sand 

 antelope, which would spring away through the bushes at 

 my approach. 



The sakaro, or dik-dik, as they are called by the 

 Somalis, is, I believe, the smallest of the African antelope 

 tribes, and stands about the size of a hare. The general 

 colour is a rufus-fawn with a tuft of hair on the crown of 

 the head. The eyes are large and the horns corrugated at 

 the base, strongly pointed and from one to three inches in 

 length. The females are even smaller and carry no horns. 



These pretty little antelopes are very common in 

 Somaliland, and I have seen as many as a hundred in the 

 course of a long march. They frequent scrub and aloe 

 jungle, and when disturbed give a shrill whistle of alarm. 

 Sakaro antelopes can be easily knocked over with No. 5 

 shot, and make pretty shooting with a rook rifle. 



The klipspringer would also be seen along the rocky 

 paths and are very common in the Golis Range. Its height 

 at the shoulder is about twenty inches, and it is in colour 

 an olive-grey. The hair on coat is long and brittle, not 

 unlike that of the musk deer. The hoofs are cylindrical 

 and cup-shaped underneath ; the horns rise vertically 

 from the head, with a slightly forward curvature and are 

 ringed from the basal thud ; average length being about 

 two and a half inches. The females have no horns. These 

 antelope go about in twos and threes. They are excellent 

 eating. As we marched on the heat became terrific, and 

 we were glad when, at last, we reached a small tree called 

 " Nasiya," the word meaning " resting-place," whence, 

 after taking a short rest we pushed on again reaching the 

 next water, Deregodab, twenty-three miles from Berbera ; 

 and continuing our journey went on to Mandera, a valley 

 three miles wide under the Gadabarsi * mountain, a bluff 

 of the great Golis Range. 



At Mandera, and all along the foot of the Golis Range, 

 is dense forest of the large Guda thorn tree, with thick 

 undergrowth of aloes and thorny bushes, a favourite resort 

 of the lesser koodoo. 



* Literally, "Lion-hand mountain." 



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