92 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA 



hybrid hartebeest heads also, the horns of which 

 measure 21 inches on the front curve, is only 

 short of the record (22 inches) by an inch, and 

 figures as number 11 on Rowland Ward's 

 latest list. Two other heads of this hartebeest 

 which I shot measure 20 inches and 19 inches ; 

 and one of these is a finer head than the one 

 in Rowland Ward's list, though the horns are not 

 quite so long. 



I had also an interesting experience with ante- 

 lope in the course of this expedition. I have 

 seen it stated that the elephant is the only animal 

 which comes to the assistance of its fellows when 

 they are in distress. The remark was evidently 

 not intended to apply to monkeys and baboons, 

 and I personally witnessed a case of intervention 

 in the interest of a comrade by a hartebeest bull. 



I had put a bullet from my -450 cordite rifle 

 into a fine Coke's hartebeest bull. It was im- 

 possible to get near to the herd, and I had 

 fired from a great distance, fully 300 yards, using 

 the heavy rifle in the hope of giving a knock- 

 out blow. The bull was standing dazed, and I 

 was closing in upon him to finish him off, when 

 another bull in the herd came behind him, 

 and butted him vigorously in the stem until he 

 compelled him to move off with the others. 

 When a wounded hartebeest begins to gallop 

 the endurance of the animal is so great that he 

 will probably get away from you, even if he is 

 mortally wounded, and I saw the bull no more. 

 The wounded animal may have subsequently 

 succumbed, but the other bull certainly made a 

 determined attempt to save his comrade's life. 



