The Gemsbuck 383 



the hocks. A strong brown-black list runs also from the nape of the neck 

 to the tail, which is black and terminates in a long sweeping tassel almost 

 touching the ground. A dark reversed mane adorns the strong and thick 

 neck. The calves of the gemsbuck are, when quite young, in colour of 

 a reddish-cream ; as they increase in size they grow paler. They are 

 sometimes taken young and tamed, but have the reputation of being some- 

 what fierce and treacherous. The splendid, spear-like horns of the 

 gemsbuck have always been much sought after in South Africa. They 

 are annulated for rather more than a third of their length, and thence run 

 smooth and round to a sharp point. Those of the male are more robust 

 than the females, but measure somewhat less in length. The horns of a 

 good cow gemsbuck are, indeed, to be numbered among the finest trophies 

 that the hunter may hope to secure in Africa. They are long, sweeping, 

 nearly straight, beautifully balanced, and carried by the noble beast that 

 bears them in an almost consciously proud manner. The best recorded 

 pair of cow gemsbuck horns, a pair shot by the late Mr. J. S. Jameson, 

 measured only half an inch less than 4 feet in length. A good representative 

 head will run to about 38 or 40 inches. 



The former habitat of the gemsbuck was, even in the days of its greatest 

 abundance, limited mainly to the more arid regions of South-West Africa. 

 Until the time of Gordon-Cumming (1843), tr " s ant elope was t0 De 

 found pretty plentifully on the northern karroos of Cape Colony. Some- 

 what before that date it was found yet farther south, on the Great Karroo 

 itself, in the very heart of the Colony. All through the Kalahari, in 

 Great Namaqualand, Damaraland, the more desert parts of Bechuana- 

 land, in the western portion of Matabeleland as far as the Ramokwebani 

 River, from thence westward as far as the Mababi veldt — towards Lake 

 Ngami— along the Botletli River, and northward through Khama's country, 

 well up towards the Zambesi, the range of the gemsbuck may be said 

 to have once extended. At the present time it is still to be found 



