With Flashlight and Rifle -* 



the coast-folk give them the name of " kongoni " ; 

 the Masai, li logoandi," and in the older idiom, 

 " lojuludjula." I found "roboht" to be the Wandorobo 

 name tor them. 



In the Masai desert region the "kongoni" of the 

 coast-tolk (Bubalis cokei) is found a brown animal, 

 and, like all hartebeests, remarkably top-heavy. It is 

 a frequenter of the plains, where, once put to flight, it 

 displays extraordinary staying power. If the old leader 

 of a herd, whether a buck or a hind, be slain, it is 

 not difficult to kill some other members of the party. 

 This antelope, which at first sight is so quaint and 

 ugly, can move over the uneven ground of the desert 

 with wonderful agility. The legs, as hard as tempered 

 steel, seem to carry the creature over the ground as 

 if he flew on feathered pinions. In some cases the 

 flight begins with a most characteristic trotting a kind 

 of thrusting trot, in which the fore-leers are thrown far 



<^ O 



forward. 



If they are put to very hurried flight, they carry 

 their heads very low and well in front of them. The 

 vitality and tenacity of this wild animal which feeds 

 exclusively on grasses are, in my opinion, superior 

 to that of all other African antelopes. I have often 

 had to follow old bucks, which had four or more mortal 

 wounds, for a very long time before I could administer 

 the finishing shot. The coat of this antelope sometimes, 

 especially at night, looks of a shimmering whitish 

 colour, as is strikingly shown in one of the illustrations 

 to this book. 



506 



