320 LARGE GAME. chap. vii. 



about buying the dog when its triumphant owner came 

 up, but next day I sent a native to act for me, thus 

 escaping with the payment of a milk-cow, instead of the 

 two I should certainly have been asked for if I had gone 

 myself. As I already had a young English greyhound, I 

 at once commenced coursing on the arrival of the other ; 

 and in about six weeks ran into and killed no less than 

 thirty-seven antelopes of various kinds. Usipingo, as my 

 new purchase was called, killed almost all of them, and I 

 am afraid a few more that no one knew about, for he often 

 used to break away and not return till nightfall, being so 

 powerful that it was all a man could do to hold him when 

 he saw game, and I have seen dog and man both sprawl- 

 ing on the ground when a sudden unexpected bound had 

 upset the equilibrium of the latter. Ultimately this trait 

 caused his death. 



Many of the number of antelopes I have mentioned 

 could hardly be said to have had fair play, as I sometimes 

 used to attend the great native hunting parties, when 

 upwards of five hundred men would form a circle driving 

 the game inwards, while those who depended on the speed 

 of their dogs would stand outside at such spots as then- 

 experience suggested would be chosen by the antelopes to 

 break out at. The poor brutes had thus to undergo the 

 chasing of scores of curs, and then to run the gauntlet of 

 dozens of spears before they reached the place where the 

 fast hounds were stationed, so that it was no wonder that 

 many were caught ; indeed, it was extraordinary how 

 many escaped under all these disadvantages. 



A description of one day may serve for all. The meet 

 was about ten miles from the native village where I was, 



