256 Men, Mines, and Animals in South Africa. 



him. After going for more than four miles, he 

 led us right on to a splendid herd of about forty 

 sable antelope, among which could be easily per- 

 ceived a regular old patriarch of a bull Avitli long- 

 upstanding black mane and wide arching horns. 

 I had always been longing to come across such a 

 herd, but till to-day had only been successful in 

 meeting with single specimens. Nothing more 

 beautiful can be imagined than the sight of this 

 great lot of antelope careering over the plain from 

 two to three hundred yards ahead of us. For 

 some reason or other I shot terribly badly this 

 morning. In a gallop of upwards of three miles I 

 fired twenty-seven cartridges and only actually 

 killed one, although I wounded another whicli Lee 

 hnished. Lee killed three, among which Avas the 

 old bull, whom I found, on examination, to possess 

 a pair of horns of surpassing excellence. These 

 hve antelope lay dead on the ground over a dis- 

 tance of about two miles. I would have pursued 

 the herd further than I did but tliat a nastA' 

 spruit intervened, in crossing whicli the antelo])e 

 gained an immense start, and my horse, becoming 

 utterly blown, was unable to make up the lost 

 ground. ]\Iy last shot, fired at a distance of moi-e 

 than 400 yards right at the herd, brought down a 

 nice young bull, which Lee managed to gallop 

 after and secure. In the afternoon we trekked 

 five miles towards the ground where the sable 

 antelope lay dead, and on the following morning 

 Lee set out at dawn with four horses to find the 

 old bull and the two cows, while " the Baboon '" 



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