ANTELOPES 97 



largely to rely upon female wit to warn him of danger, 

 he betrays less nervousness when drinking and in the 

 neighbourhood of the water than is the case with the 

 ewes. 



Now an old ewe has caught sight of something which 

 alarms her, or has inhaled some whiff of tainted air ; 

 instantly she turns rigid as a statue, the very symbol 

 of passive vigilance ; the danger evidently approaches, 

 and, expelling the air sharply through her nostrils, she 

 gives vent to the peculiar snort distinctive of the alarmed 

 impala, a sound pitched in a key higher and shriller than 

 the bass of the larger antelopes. As each member of 

 the herd gets the wind of, or sights, the cause of alarm 

 he or she too joins in the chorus, till the air rings with 

 sound ; then suddenly by one impulse the whole herd, 

 now bunched together, swings round, and all make off 

 with mighty bounds, sailing over bushes, rocks and 

 ravines, without apparent effort, to disappear into the 

 recesses of the bush, just as a couple of natives round the 

 corner of the path. 



It has been customary to catch a few of these antelopes 

 alive each winter, the method being to stretch a hundred 

 yards of deer netting along the edge of the bush, and 

 some fifty yards from the favourite drinking-place, and 

 to leave it there until the animals have become thoroughly 

 accustomed to its presence. On the sixth day we sally 

 forth, accompanied by three or four native attendants, 

 and conceal ourselves in some convenient spots in the 

 reeds, a little beyond the trap and on either side of it. 

 We make no sign until a sufficient number of animals 

 are between the river and the stretched net, then on a 

 prearranged signal the natives suddenly spring from 

 ambush and rush forward with shouts and gesticulations. 

 Immediately the herd dashes straight for the bush ; some 



BOOK II G 



