xx THE ANTELOPE 333 



usually halt to reconnoitre. The bucks separate, and all turn 

 round to gaze at the object of disturbance. Having made up 

 their minds to go, there is no more hesitation, but away and away 

 they fly, hardly touching the ground with their swift hoofs, but 

 hopping almost vertically in the air, and bounding at least 6 feet 

 in perpendicular height at each leap, as they follow each other at 

 50 miles an hour across the level plain. I believe that they are 

 capable of the extraordinary speed of 60 miles an hour, as it is 

 said that the best English greyhound cannot overtake them. 



It is difficult to give an opinion without having tried the 

 experiment. Although I have frequently had the advantage of 

 excellent native dogs for my assistance in following wounded buck, 

 I have never seen a fair trial with greyhounds. It M r ould be 

 difficult to find a locality that would permit the greyhound a fair 

 use of its powers, as the dog requires not only a level but a smooth 

 surface to exert its maximum speed. In India the land is very 

 roughly ploughed, and is never harrowed. When the wheat is 

 growing, the surface is a mass of large clods the size of a man's 

 head ; these have been exposed to the sun until they have become 

 as hard as sun-burnt bricks. The black-buck is at home upon this 

 uneven ground, but the greyhound could not use its feet with full 

 effect. The greyhounds in the Soudan are well known to over- 

 take the gazelle, if they can obtain a fair start, and I should 

 certainly imagine that a first-class greyhound would catch a black- 

 buck if it could be slipped within 100 yards upon a level unculti- 

 vated plain, where the surface was absolutely smooth. 



A couple of years ago, when I was in the district of Damoh, 

 where black-buck were plentiful, I procured two excellent dogs 

 from the village of Bertulla. My first introduction to them was 

 accidental. Our camp was pitched upon the raised bank or 

 bhund of a tank which adjoined the village. Upon this were 

 several fine tamarind trees which shaded the tents, also a large 

 peepul (Ficus religiosa), from the centre of which a wild date- 

 palm grew like the mast of a ship for about 40 feet in height, 

 its spreading crown appearing like a plume of feathers above 

 the highest branches of the peepul. From our rather elevated 

 position we had an extensive view of the slightly undulating 

 surface, and upon a rough uncultivated slope about half a mile 

 distant I observed a very black buck lying down alone. It is 

 easier to approach a solitary buck than when surrounded by a 

 herd, and I commenced a stalk, walking behind a bullock-cart, 

 driven by one of my men who understood the work. 



It is high art to conduct the cart properly. Bullocks are 



