An African Shooting Trip 



oryx and hartebeest and a few klipspringer. 

 The last-named, a beautiful small mountain 

 antelope, with curious quill-like hairs, is, like 

 the chamois, very fond of peaks and preci- 

 pices, and so, is difficult to approach. 



On coming down from the mountains into 

 the level country, large herds of hartebeest, 

 with scattered bands of oryx and aoul, showed 

 themselves on the plains. Though apparently 

 stupid, the hartebeest did not prove easy vic- 

 tims. Before they were much disturbed, one 

 could approach within about 200 yards in the 

 open, and take one shot ; but to be perfectly 

 sure of heart or lungs, with an express .577, at 

 that distance, is not an easy matter, and, un- 

 less hit in a vital spot, these animals generally 

 made off in the herd with apparently little dis- 

 comfort. The Winchester, .45-90300, though 

 much more accurate than the .577 express, 

 did not prove as effective as one could wish, 

 when used against oryx or hartebeest at long 

 ranges, hard-hit animals escaping with too 

 great frequency. But there are probably very 

 few horned animals that can match these two 

 species for vitality and pluck. 



We used to leave camp in the morning, ac- 

 companied by a few men and a camel to bring 



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