SOUTHERN AFRICA. 219 



never have looked nt, or admired it sufficiently ; my com- 

 panion observing', after a long- pause, "that the sable antelope 

 would doubtless become the admiration of the world." A 

 drawing" and description having* been completed on the spot, 

 the skin was carefully removed, and conveyed upon a pack- 

 horse in triumph to the camp • and it may possibly interest 

 those of my readers, who shall have followed me during* the 

 last three days, to learn, that I succeeded, with infinite diffi- 

 culty, in bringing' this unique and interesting* specimen of 

 African zoolog'y, in a state of hig-h preservation to Cape 

 Town ; where, in October last, it was elegantly set up by 

 Monsieur Verreaux, the French naturalist, and obliging-ly 

 taken to Eng-land by my well-known friend Captain Alex- 

 ander, 42nd Royal Highlanders, and is now in the British 

 Museum. 



Notwithstanding" the arrnng"ements made by Um'Nombate, 

 our escort was daily becoming" more unruly and impatient j 

 and upon our attempting* to move some miles further to the 

 eastward, in order, if possible to obtain a female specimen of 

 the new species, they positively refused to accompany us in 

 any direction but that of the Yaal River. The most tempt- 

 ing" bribes failed to shake their resolution ; and upon our 

 threatening" to send an express to the king", for which duty 

 Andries eag*erly volunteered, they sat sullenly g"rinding' to- 

 bacco with the most calm and provoking" indifference. The 

 murrain having" attacked our oxen, and the horses, moreover, 

 being* so g"alled and reduced in condition that many were 

 unfit for further work, it was resolved, that since the objects 



During the first day, I had opportunities of distinctly remarking that the 

 females were all furnished with crescent-shaped horns ; and although of smaller 

 stature than the males, were similarly marked — a deep chesnut-brown taking 

 the place of jet black. The species was evidently not recognized by the natives, 

 although to conceal their ignorance, they pronounced it to be kookaam, which 

 signifies the oryx, an animal of such extremely rare occurrence in Moselekatse's 

 country, that they hud in all i)rubability never seen it. 



