66 THE SOCIETY FOR THE PRESERVATION OF 



Almost immediately several of the sailors from the gyassa 

 appeared out of the long grass. This habit of surreptitiously fol- 

 lowing a sportsman is dangerous and annoying, and frequently 

 spoils chances. My companion subsequently got his specimen 

 on Tonga Island after a prolonged stalk. 



Only one is allowed under each licence, but I was deputed by 

 the Sirdar to procure a specimen for the Norwich Museum, in 

 which I succeeded at a later stage. The species is in no danger, 

 as there are wide regions frequented by them, which are practically 

 inaccessible from the river. The natives hunt them with dogs, 

 concealing themselves in the reeds, and spear them when they 

 rush for cover. Wo saw some loin-cloths made of the skins of 

 these animals, worn by women. I do not think they are much 

 preyed upon by lions or leopards, at least I saw no tracks of these 

 animals, and it is obvious that these antelopes could not be easily 

 approached by them when they are standing, as is their wont;, in 

 shallow water. 



The peculiar colour of the old males — nearly black, with a largo 

 white patch on the withers — is only attained by a small percentage 

 of the herd. At a later stage, in a more open place, I had a good 

 sight of a large herd ; I counted seventy, and, as far as I could 

 make out, there were not more than three or four black males 

 accompanying them, the remainder, whether male or female, 

 being fawn-coloured. 



We had a strange experience one night when our boat was 

 moored to the edge of the reeds. An enormous host of ' driver ' ants 

 invaded our boat, using the stalks of the reeds as scaling-ladders. 

 I was sleeping on the roof of the cabins, but was awakened by 

 sounds of distress. Sir Alfred Pease, sleeping below, had reached 

 ■out his hands for his water-bottle, when, in a moment, his arm 

 was a crawling mass, and springing from his bed he was instantly 

 covered from head to foot with an army of largo black ants, biting 

 furiously ; so tight did they cling that their nippers adhered even 

 after they had been swept off. The victim fled for the bath, and 

 was only rid of the pests by buckets of water poured over him, 

 after which ho was carried bodily up the ladder to my gauze 

 shelter. In the morning the whole deck and cabins were crawling 

 with a black horde, the large biting ants being accompanied by 

 smaller blown ones — probably females — whom apparently they 

 ■controlled, but when daylight appeared many left the boat, carrying 

 booty. We traced their beaten road through the marsh. It was 

 crowded with ants travelling both ways. One good effect of the 

 invasion was that the other insect pests which infested the boat 

 were completely devoured. The cockroaches, which were of huge 

 size and very numerous, generally only appeared at night, but such 

 was their terror of the ants that they left their dark places in the 

 -day-time, and were manifestly suffering from extreme nervous 

 excitement. It was several days before we finally evicted the last 

 of the invaders. This was accomplished by dabbing paral'lin in 

 their haunts. We borrowed it from a steamer to which we were 



