386 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



was made for the spilt blood, and inasmuch as he had 

 been hallalled, I think his live weight would have been 

 nearly four hundred and ninety pounds. He was a big, 

 full-grown bull, but not of extraordinary size; later I killed 

 much bigger ones, unusually fine specimens, which must have 

 weighed well over five hundred pounds. The horns, which 

 are sometimes two feet long, are set on great bony pedicels, 

 so that the face seems long and homely even for a harte- 

 beest. The first two or three of these hartebeests which I 

 killed were shot at long range, for, like all game, they are 

 sometimes exceedingly wary; but we soon found that 

 normally they were as tame as they were plentiful. We 

 frequently saw them close by the herds of the Boer settlers. 

 They were the common game of the plains. At times of 

 course they were difficult to approach; but again and again, 

 usually when we were riding, we came upon not only in- 

 dividuals but herds, down wind and in plain view, which 

 permitted us to approach to within a hundred yards before 

 they definitely took flight. Their motions look ungainly 

 until they get into their full speed stride. They utter no 

 sound save the usual hartebeest sneeze. 



There were bohor reedbuck also, pretty creatures, about 

 the size of a white-tail deer, which lay close in the reedbeds, 

 or in hollows among the tall grass, and usually offered rather 

 difficult running shots or very long standing shots. Still 

 prettier were the little oribi. These are grass antelopes, 

 frequenting much the same places as the duiker and stein- 

 buck and not much larger. Where the grass was long they 

 would lie close, with neck flat along the ground, and dart 

 off when nearly stepped on, with a pig-like rush like that 

 of a reedbuck or duiker in similar thick cover. But where 

 the grass was short, and especially where it was burned, 

 they did not trust to lying down and hiding; on the con- 

 trary, in such places they were conspicuous little creatures, 

 and trusted to their speed and alert vigilance for their 

 safety. They run very fast, with great bounds, and when 

 they stand usually at a hundred and fifty or two hundred 



