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 1888. 
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 deisa 
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 Jong 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 @ propos 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 witha herd of G. Gran?ii or other antelopes. 
It is perhaps as well to warn sportsmen to approach oryx, 
