VII.] 



UNGULATES. 



243 



their distribution in the Ethiopian region, Dr Sclater writes 1 that 

 although " antelopes are to be met with in every part of Africa, 

 they are most numerous where the country is comparatively open, 

 and where there are grassy plains interspersed with sheltering 

 bushes. South of the tropic of Capricorn this condition generally 

 prevails, and throughout the Cape Colony and its adjoining terri- 

 tory they are or, at all events, before the advent of a European 



FIG. 57. WATER-CHEVROTAIN (Dorcatherium aqiiaticum}. 



population were, everywhere abundant. The early settlers at the 

 Cape describe antelopes as to be met with in herds of thousands 

 on the veldt, and in parts of Africa where the white man and his 

 destructive firearms have not yet penetrated a similar condition 

 prevails even at the present day. When we advance further north 

 and meet with the dense forests of the Niger and Congo basins, 

 we find the mass of antelopes holding rather to the more open 

 lands on the eastern coast, throughout which they are to be met 



Natural Science, vol. I. p. -255 (1892). 



1 6 2 



