SPORT IN MOZAMBIQUE 



of some gigantic python. The traveller halting by 

 a pool sometimes hears a despairing bleating. He 

 hastens to the water and sees nothing but ripples 

 on its surface, which vanish as they widen. Having 

 been seized by the muzzle as it stooped to drink, the 

 antelope lies at the bottom of the pool, near the 

 crocodile by which it has been seized. 



With so many enemies it seems surprising that 

 there are any bushbucks left, especially as the female 

 only produces young once a year between the months 

 of June and October. During the period of gestation 

 the male lives apart, and the pair resume their normal 

 life when their offspring is able to feed itself. Bush- 

 bucks are usually met with singly or in pairs. When 

 the male seeks the female, it frequently calls it by a 

 kind of sharp bark. 



Although having eight native names, the bushbuck 

 is generally designated bavala (Sena dialect) or zoma 

 (Changane language). To zoologists it is known as 

 Tragelaphus sylvaticus, which, like the name bush- 

 buck, refers to its partiality for thickets. A relative 

 of this antelope is also to be found in this region : 

 namely the harnessed bushbuck {Tragelaphus scriptus). 

 The only differences distinguishing them are the 

 horns which, in the case of the male, are closer 

 together, and the coat of both sexes, which is striped 

 with white instead of being spotted. The Kafirs do 

 not appear to make any distinction between the two 

 varieties. 



(10) 



