398 Great and Small Game of Africa 



of the Notwani River — the sable antelope appears to have once been rather 

 sparsely distributed along both banks of the Limpopo and its upper 

 tributaries ; in the Northern Transvaal, as far south as the borders of the 

 high veldt, and in Khama's country, as far north as the old waggon track 

 which used to run from Shoshong to Matabeleland. Throughout the 

 greater part of Matabeleland, Mashunaland, Manica, the low veldt of the 

 Eastern Transvaal, and in fact the whole of South-East Africa to the north 

 of Swaziland and Delagoa Bay, the sable antelope is, or was until quite 

 recently, plentiful. In the low-lying coast country between the Buzi River 

 and the Lower Zambesi it is decidedly scarce, however, nor did I meet with it 

 in the immediate vicinity of that river in the neighbourhood of Tete. The 

 waggon road which leads from Tati to the junction of the Chobi River with 

 the Zambesi, and forms the boundary between Matabeleland and Khama's 

 country, also marks along the greater part of its length the western range 

 of the sable antelope in this part of South Africa. These animals certainly 

 wander somewhat west of this line, along the course of the Nata River, but 

 although they may be met with at any of the permanent waters all along 

 the road from Sibanani to Gazuma, and must sometimes, therefore, graze 

 a few miles westwards of the line I have indicated above, they are unknown 

 at any of the permanent waters in the deserts farther to the west. Along 

 the Chobi River, however, as far as I have travelled, I have met with this 

 antelope, though never in anything but small numbers. In the Mababi 

 country I never saw any, nor along the Machabi River, which is an outlet 

 of the Okavango. It may therefore be said that in Africa, south of the 

 Zambesi, the range of the sable antelope has always been confined to the 

 eastern half of the country, except where the species has pushed westwards 

 along the valley of the Limpopo, and the southern bank of the Chobi 

 River. 



North of the Zambesi I have met with the sable antelope wherever I 

 have travelled, but it always appeared to me to be rather sparingly dis- 



