ANTELOPES 293 



SABLE ANTELOPE 



The Sable Antelope, known to the Swahilis as ' Pala-hala,' is 

 very rare, and up to the present has not been bagged in British 

 East Africa by a European. Sir John Willoughby, in his book 

 ' East Africa and its Big Game,' mentions that he saw a small 

 herd of five near Maji Chumvi. Mr. Gedge and I also saw a 

 herd of about ten or twelve near Gulu Gulu in November 1 888. 

 Both of these places were open bush and thinly-wooded 

 country. The sable antelope is fairly plentiful in the undu- 

 lating park-like country on the banks of the river Wami, near 

 Kidudwe, in German territory. 



EAST AFRICAN ORYX 



The East African Oryx is known to the Swahilis as ' Cheroa.' 

 This oryx was for a long time confounded with the Oryx beisa 

 of the Somali country, which, however, does not range south of 

 the Tana river. The cheroa is easily distinguished from the 

 other by the presence of a tuft of long black hair on the ears. 

 It is found in the Kilimanjaro district in greater numbers (parti- 

 cularly near Useri) than elsewhere. It is also plentiful in the 

 Galla country, between the Sabaki and Tana rivers, and I have 

 myself seen it within a mile of the sea at Merereni. 



It is found more often in open bush country than in the 

 bare arid plains. It is not only a beautiful beast, but is very 

 shy, difficult to approach, and exceedingly tough, and for these 

 reasons many sportsmen covet its head more than the trophies 

 of any other kind of antelope. The skin of its neck is extra- 

 ordinarily thick, and apropos of this, all head-skins preserved as 

 trophies should have the skin of the neck shaved down to at 

 least half its thickness to ensure its being properly cured. The 

 oryx is found in herds varying in number from six or eight up to 

 thirty or forty. A bull oryx is very often found entirely by him- 

 self, and occasionally with a herd of G. Grantii or other antelopes. 



It is perhaps as well to warn sportsmen to approach oryx, 



