CHAP. VIII. MIGRATION OF ANTELOPES. 247 



his own words.* '" Being informed that the herd was 

 approaching, I immediately set out with Haripa, my 

 attendant, who posted me in a 1 defile of the plain, 

 through which the antelopes must necessarily pass. 

 We had not long remained in this position, when we 

 saw rising from the sides of the hills, clouds of dust, 

 which seemed every moment to extend themselves and 

 become larger. He then desired me to lie down upon 

 my belly, with my face towards the ground ; and in 

 this posture, which appeared to me very little proper 

 for hunting, I waited the event in silence. The an- 

 telopes advanced full speed ; and did not fail to direct 

 their rcourse towards us, as he had foreseen. As the 

 situation we had taken did not permit them to see us, 

 they were not startled, but proceeded forward without 

 altering their direction : when about two thousand of 

 them, however, had passed us, he rose up, began to 

 discharge his arrows, and desired me to fire at the same 

 time. I was fully sensible that, when the herd was 

 pnce put in motion, the antelopes in the rear would 

 follow the rest ; and that during the impression of their 

 fear, which made them fly and press forward in crowds 

 towards us, they would not be able to perceive us. I 

 saw, also, that the savages, by despatching them silently 

 with their arrows, ran no risk of scaring them ; but I 

 was apprehensive that, if I fired my gun, the explosion 

 would spread terror among them, and that they would 

 then return the way they came. My apprehensions, 

 however, though founded in* reason, were not verified. 

 I fired repeatedly in all directions ; but the column 

 continued to advance as before, and fear produced upon 

 them no other effect than that of making them move 

 on faster. I frequently poured the contents of my gun 

 into the middle of this confused multitude, and each of 

 my balls often brought down several of them at a time. 

 Had I wished, I might easily, in this manner, have 

 procured a hundred ; and I only ceased firing, merely 

 because such a quantity of game would have been of 



* Irar. vol. ii. p. 109. 



4 



