The Sable Antelope 397 



The following three existing species, the third of which 

 exterminated, may be recognised, viz. : — 



1 . The Sable Ante 



2. The Roan 



ope [Hippotrc 

 ( 



gus niger). 

 equinus). 



3. The 



Blaauwbok 



( 



leucophaus). 



r these 



is divided 



into several 



ill-defined local 



The Sable Antelope (Hippotragus niger) 



In South and South Central Africa 



Z-wart Wit Pens of the Boers ; Potoquane of Southern Bechuanas ; 

 Qualata inc/ui of Bamangwato and Makololo ; Umtjiele of 

 Amandabele ; Palapala of Makalakas ; Impengo of Masubias ; 

 Ookwa of Makobas ; Impalampala of Swazis and Zulus ; Solupe of 

 Masarwa Bushmen. 



This noble-looking antelope was first described by Captain, afterwards Sir 

 Cornwallis Harris, who met with it in 1837 somewhere amongst the hilly 

 country of the present Magaliesberg district of the Transvaal. This was 

 not very far from the extreme south-western limit of its range, but it may 

 be interesting to note that so recently as 1882 a few sable antelopes still 

 survived in a district somewhat farther to the south-west than the point 

 where the species was first met with by its discoverer. Of this fact 

 I obtained what I considered conclusive evidence from an old Hottentot 

 hunter whom I met in that year, and whom I had formerly known as an 

 elephant- hunter in Matabeleland, where, of course, he had seen large 

 numbers of sable antelopes. He informed me that a few of these animals 

 still survived amongst the hills lying about 20 miles to the west of the 

 village of Zeerust in the Marico division of the Transvaal, and told me 

 that he had killed two of them during the two years he had resided in that 

 part of the country. From this point — not very tar from the head-waters 



