, KOODOOS. 263 



the sooty pagan narrating over the camp fire, to 

 his grinning associates, how the bass, with both 

 barrels, missed a pair of koodoo bulls (beasts as big 

 as a three-year-old steer) at about thirty paces. 



I was not far enough gone in the late misadventure 

 not to recognise that they were bulls I had failed to 

 shoot, for the simple reason that the cows do not 

 carry horns, and such horns as these had I think I 

 never previously saw finer ; and, in my opinion, of 

 all the trophies that come from South Africa they 

 are the most to be coveted. As I have shot 

 numbers of these animals previously in this sports- 

 man's paradise, I will here do my best to describe 

 their beauties. At the shoulder it stands not un- 

 frequently over fourteen and a half hands in height. 

 The body is a dark slate colour, marked by regular 

 transverse bars of white, as if at one time or other 

 it had been galled by a very complicated set of 

 harness. Its eyes are particularly noticeable from 

 their fulness and soft liquid expression, while the 

 ears, which are very much developed, are almost 

 unceasingly in motion, a certain indication of the 

 animal's incessant watchfulness. From its chin, 

 down the throat extends a mane, which also is to 



