286 MR. T. E. BUCKLEY ON THE GEOGRAPHICAL [Mar. 7, 



limit appears to be the Amaswazi country ; along the Limpopo it is 

 very common, and continues so into the Matabili country up to the 

 Zambesi. The old males do not seem to associate with the females ; 

 nor do they appear so common, as out of nearly a dozen obtained by 

 us only two were males, and one of these was immature. We ob- 

 served very young calves in October. The Sassabye runs with a 

 peculiar gait, reminding one of a rocking-horse ; its shoulders are 

 very high, sloping away to the rump ; it does not seem to be a very 

 shy animal. 



18. Alcelaphus ALBiFRONS. (The Blesbock.) 



Persecuted though it is, the Blesbock still continues to hold its 

 ground, occurring through the Orange Free State and the Transvaal 

 in countless numbers. In the winter they migrate south, a straggler 

 coming even as low as Harrismith ; in the summer, again, they go 

 north of the Vaal river. They do not seem ever to have occurred 

 much to the west of 24° east long., or north of 25° south latitude ; 

 on the east the Drakenberg range is the boundary. At one tinie 

 they were found in the Cape colony, but were scarce there even in 

 Gordon Cumming's time : the extensive plains in the Orange Free 

 State and the Transvaal, however, were probably always the head- 

 quarters of this species. Why the Blesbock should still be so nume- 

 rous, and the Bontebock, V.ptjgarga, almost extinct whereas, accord- 

 ing to Harris, in 1836 it was almost as common as the Blesbock, is a 

 problem not easily solved, inhabiting as they did the same localities, 

 and feeding over the same ground. In habits, size, and appearance 

 the Bontebock is almost identical with the Blesbock ; yet out of the 

 vast herds of the former all that remain are a few individuals care- 

 fully preserved in the old colony near Cape I'Agulhaz. The Blesbock 

 calves in November, the young at first being a sort of creamy brown 

 colour ; the males and females live together in the same herds : these, 

 when disturbed, invariably run up the wind, carrying their heads 

 down. 



19. Catoblepas gnu. (The common Gnu.) 



When Harris first entered the colony in 1836, the common Gnu 

 was met with in Graaf Beinet ; now, however, their numbers are so 

 much reduced by continued hunting, that it is not until we come to 

 about fifty miles south of the Vaal river that any are seen. In winter 

 a few wander to within > few miles of Harrismith ; but in summer 

 as we were coming to Natal we only saw them after crossing the 

 Vaal. On the 20th of June I saw quantities of Wildebeest and Bles- 

 bocks that were spreading themselves over the plains south of the 

 Vaal ; and this is the time when they are most persecuted, as they 

 are then very poor in condition, and with a good horse may easily 

 be ridden down, especially in the early morning, when they are stiff 

 with the frost and cold. Their skins are valuable, and form one of 

 the chief exports of Natal ; and their flesh is converted by the Dutch 

 boers into " beltong." Both sexes have horns ; but those of the 

 female are much lighter and do not meet so closely over the forehead. 



