1876.] DISTRIBUTION OP SOUTH-AFRICAN MAMMALS. 285 



most liable to extermination'; easily ridden down, the best and fattest 

 of all animals, the skin of value as well, it is year by year diminish- 

 ing in numbers. Throughout my travels I only saw them on two 

 occasions, and never obtained a specimen ; I have at different times 

 seen their fresh spoor (which resembles that of the buffalo, but is 

 rather smaller and rounder) in the driest spots through which we 

 passed ; and it is said they require very little water. Harris speaks 

 of these animals as occurring in vast droves in the open country 

 south of the Vaal river ; now the Eland is only to be found in the 

 more remote wooded country. A few yet remain in certain parts 

 of Natal, one locality being Bushman's River, where, luckily, they 

 are now carefully preserved. 



15. Tragelaphus ANGAsi. (The Inyala.) 



This fine Bush-buck inhabits the bush bordering the sea-coast 

 along the Zulu and Amaswazi countries, from the Inyalazi river (its 

 southern boundary), as far north at least as Delagoa Bay, probably 

 beyond this. It appears to be very local, never, as far as I could 

 hear from the hunters, being found out of this limit. The Inyala lives 

 in small herds, the old rams being generally solitary ; but the younger 

 ones accompany the females. They inhabit the very thickest bush. 



16. Alcelaphus caama. (The Hartebeest.) 



Why the Hartebeest should have become so rare is a matter of 

 conjecture ; but from being one of the commonest animals through- 

 out the Cape colony (according to Harris, up to the tropic of 

 Capricorn), it is now one of the rarest of the antelopes. We observed 

 it only on three or four occasions, once just before reaching the Cro- 

 codile River, and once or twice in the colony of Natal, where, being 

 preserved, it is now becoming fairly common. At the time of Harris's 

 visit to South Africa it seems to have been extremely abundant, 

 mingling with the vast herds of Blesbocks and Wildebeestes. A few 

 are met with about the Bamangwato hills ; Col. Grant mentions 

 having met with this species as well as A. lichtensteini in Equatorial 

 Africa. A friend tells me, however, that he never met with it from 

 Shoshong (the capital of the Bechuanas) to the Zambesi. It is not 

 mentioned by Baines, Andersson, or Chapman as occurring in South- 

 west Africa. In the south-east, again, a few still remain in the Zulu 

 country, as well as in Natal ; but I could not hear of it as occurring 

 in the Amaswazi country, where its place is taken by the Sassabye. 

 The Hartebeest prefers the open country or where the bush is, at 

 best, very scanty : the three or four we saw near the Crocodile River 

 were very shy, not allowing us to approach nearer than five or six 

 hundred yards. 



1 7. Alcelaphus lunatus, (The Sassabye.) 



Although, in Harris's time, the Sassabye appears to have been 

 common on the plains, at the present day it is essentially a bush- 

 loving animal. According to Dr. O. Smith the Sassabye was rarely 

 known to advance to the south of Latakoo ; at present its southern 



