chap. vii. HUNTING WITH DOGS. 319 



brought her to the ground. We then went up to the 

 place, no one appearing in sight, and the boy satisfied his 

 longing for action by plunging his spear through her 

 vitals, the hound still holding her by the throat, and 

 giving us some difficulty in inducing him to leave go. 



Knowing that a reed-buck doe is by no means easy to 

 run down, especially on ground such as this, 1 examined 

 her captor with much interest and with the intention of, 

 if possible, making him my own — particularly as my boy 

 told me that he was well known as the fastest and most 

 plucky dog in the neighbourhood. He was a fine-looking 

 animal, approaching a staghound in height, but longer and 

 more powerful both in the chest and hind-quarters, though 

 in other points resembling a greyhound, all except his long 

 ears, which, standing erect like those of the wild dog 

 (Canis pictus seu venaticus), gave him a most curious and 

 wild-beast appearance. I describe him thus particularly, 

 as he was a good representative of the only pure breed of 

 native dogs that I have ever seen in Africa, the Amaponda 

 greyhound. They differ in colour — black, tawny, and 

 white being the most common, and the latter being the 

 most prized by the Kaffirs — and they differ in some having 

 more of a deerhound and others more of a greyhound 

 form ; but all are distinguished by the same erect ears and 

 smooth short coat, as well as by possessing great speed 

 and but little power of scent. The best dog for antelopes 

 that I ever owned was the second cross of one of these 

 with an English foxhound. It was undistinguishable from 

 the Amaponda breed in form and speed, and gained from 

 its other ancestor an undeniable nose and great pluck. 



Acting upon the advice of my boy, I said nothing 



