304 Great and Small Game of Africa 



compass their destruction. They are hunted in canoes, driven into deep 



water and speared, for although lechwe antelopes can swim well and very 



strongly, they cannot swim as fast as a canoe can be paddled. Where they 



have been much persecuted by the natives, lechwe are very wild and 



difficult to approach in the open ground in which they live, but where 



they have not been much interfered with they are very tame, and will 



allow one to walk, up in full view of them to within 1 50 yards. When 



they decide to run, they invariably stretch out their nose and trot leisurely 



away, the males laying their horns back on each side of their neck ; but 



they soon break into a springing gallop, every now and then bounding high 



into the air. As they are nearly always in shallow water, the flight of a 



herd of lechwe is usually accompanied by a great deal of splashing, for even 



when the water nearly covers their bodies they do not swim, but progress 



by a succession of bounds from the bottom. When at last the depth forces 



them to swim, they show themselves very capable in this respect, as I have 



remarked above. The young are dropped towards the end of the dry 



season, in October and November. 



The flesh I always thought very good, though the fat is hard and clogs 



on the teeth and the roof of the mouth whilst being eaten. I once saw a 



wounded lechwe that was lying down, spring forwards and drive the point 



of one of its very sharp horns right into the chest of a Kafir who was 



approaching in face of it, puncturing one of his lungs and inflicting what 



might have been a very bad wound. I was, however, close behind it, and 



when it sprang forwards the Kafir was stooping to seize it by the horn, and 



I believe that it injured him by accident and was really only trying to 



escape. At any rate I have never seen any other antelope of this species 



make any attempt to defend itself with its horns when wounded. The 



lechwe is very tenacious of life, and I have sometimes been astounded at 



the distance one of these animals has run after having been shot right 



through the heart. „ _, „ 



F. C. Selous. 



