7ji4 MB. p. ii. SCLATEB ON MAMMALS [NoV. 21, 



plentiful than in the Mweru and Luapula Countries, though there 

 may be districts which have a greater variety. Cobus vardoni and 

 C. hchee run in enormous herds. Buffaloes and Zebras are also 

 there in vast quantities. The two first-named Antelopes are 

 frequently found together, are much alike in appearance, and are 

 both known by the natives as ' Nswala.' (The Impala is also 

 called ' JVswala ' by them.) The horns of the Letchwe have a 

 much larger spread than those of V^ardon's Antelope, but at a 

 distance it is difficult to distinguish between the two. The 

 Letchwe has a little black stripe on the fore legs which is not 

 found in Vardou's Antelope. A noticeable feature about the male 

 Letchwe is that when he runs he puts his head down, laying back 

 the horns. Vardon's Antelope does not do this. 



"Xear the north-east end of Lake M\Aeru I met with a 

 species of Waterbuck quite diSerent from those inhabiting Nyasa- 

 land. The \A'hole skin is of a darker — " bluer " — colour. The white 

 marks on the buttocks are not so distinct, and the beast is some- 

 what smaller in size than that Antelope. I forward you, through 

 Mr. H. H. Johnston, a skin of one of these M^eru Waterbucks, 

 which was shot by Mr. John Kydd (who accompanied me on my 

 journey). Mr. Crawshay has obtained several of them. I also 

 forward you skins and horns of the Cobus vardoni and C. lecliee ; 

 also the horns of male and female Eoau Antelope, and a quantity 

 of skins of small mammals, monkeys, cats, &c., all from Mweru. 



" One skin which I send is of a diminutive little Antelope from 

 Mweru. I never saw it alive myself, but bought the skin from a 

 native, who told me that it has very small, short, straight horns. 

 My ' boys ' from Xyasaland do not know it. 



" The ' Situtunga ' ^ frequents the Great Mweru Marsh, and 

 many of the swamps north, east, and south of Mweru Lake. 

 Mr. Crawshay saw one, and obtained the horns of two, but neither 

 he nor I succeeded in shooting a specimen ; they live almost in 

 the water. 



" The African Cattle-plague has created terrible havoc among the 

 wild game on the Lower Luapula (near its entrance into Lake 

 Mweru) ; also, to a less degree, in Itawa, L^lungu, and Unyam- 

 wanga. AU the dying beasts that I saw had a more or less copious 

 discharge from the nose. Buffalo, Yardon's Antelope, and the 

 Letchwe seem to have suft'ered most. 



" Around Lake Mweru, both the ' Njiri ' ("Wart-hog) and the 

 * Guruvi ' (which, if I am not mistaken, is one of the Eiver-hogs), 

 are very plentiful. I send you heads of each, with the tusks in ; 

 you will see how different they are. 



" On the southern shores of Lake Mweru Lions are more plentiful 

 than I have seen them elsewhere in British Central Africa, and I 

 had some lively times with some of them. I am able to confirm 

 the fact that Lions do occasionally climb trees. I saw one, on one 

 occasion, high up in a large bushy tree, he was more than fifteen 

 feet from the ground. On seeing us, he came down to the ground, 

 ' Traffelaphus spekii, I believe. — P. L. S. 



