170 SAVAGE SUDAN 



example (that ought, by theory, to have been the smallest) 

 proved the biggest of the lot, both in body and horn! 

 The annulations being worn nearly smooth, showed this 

 (A] to be a very old animal. 



The two black bucks (as usually happens and not with 

 wild beasts only !) were not so black as they had appeared. 

 Their rich, lustrous pelts were rather of a deep sable hue, 

 relieved by dark chestnut points ; while the beauty of the 

 whole design was accentuated by the narrow fringe of 

 deeper, sheeny black that bordered the snow-white areas. 

 I rides, rich dark brown. 



A typical mounted example in the African Galleries 

 at South Kensington illustrates better than written 

 words the extreme beauty of this species. 



My fourth white-eared cob I reserved till we had 

 voyaged 200 miles further south. We landed near 

 Tonga, and had walked a few miles inland over level 

 plains with knee-deep grass and thin forest-belts, when a 

 herd of cob was sighted. It surprised me that on such 

 bare ground, devoid of covert, this troop allowed us to 

 walk openly to within 300 yards. At that point we 

 got a big ant-hill in line, and by simple crouching made 

 good our approach. Still the herd took no notice 

 many of them were lying down. 



We were now at a distance of 175 yards from these 

 careless beauties. There were forty-four of them, but 

 only one male proved conspicuously blacker than his 

 fellows. So closely did they crowd that for more than two 

 hours a clear shot at the champion in separate outline 

 did not present itself. As often as he showed alone 

 some wretched doe or young buck would move out 

 and "mask" him, or (what was just as fatal) stand 

 directly behind. Thus for half a morning, we (Lowe 

 was with me) enjoyed delightful opportunity of 

 observing them at home. Though the troop remained 

 quiescent, yet there was constant shifting of individual 

 positions, and a series of mild skirmishes between 



