258 THROUGH ANGOLA 



and close together in the walking track of the 

 sable, are pointed and spread out in the running 

 spoor. 



The ROAN (Hyppotragus equinus) (Malanka or 

 Palanka in various dialects) is widely distri- 

 buted throughout Angola, except in the areas of 

 close forest which occur Jn the north or in the desert 

 or scrub- covered regiotis along t\je south-west 



coast and /southern border of the Ncolonv. The 



f . 

 shoulder height may be s much as 4 feet 9 inches ; 



the colour is roan ; the massive, curvec\, and short 

 horns rarely measure more than 30 . inches in 

 length. The roan lives in herds of a dozen or 

 more animals, or one or! more bulls may fae found 

 together, generally in ve^y open forest or bn grass 

 plains, and they graze ! more than sable .though 

 browsing as well. The roan is divided by Lydek- 

 ker into numerous races, and the West African race 

 is usually distinguished by the deep red colour of 

 the coat in the younger animals. The colour of 

 the roan I saw in Angola approximated more to 

 that of the Central and South African type tfean 

 to the red of the West African race. The spoor is 

 somewhat similar to the sable, but larger, and the 

 hind end of the hoof is somewhat angular instead 

 of rounded. Only constant practice will help one 

 to decide off-hand between the spoor of the giant 

 sable and roan, but the slightly larger dung and 

 track with its angular tracing will help to distin- 

 guish between them. Both sable and roan are 

 dangerous to approach w r hcn wounded ; they have 

 been known to kill hunting dogs and even lions 

 with their sharp horns, and more than one hunter 



