4 o2 Great and Small Game of Africa 



pursued by dogs, neither the bull nor any of the cows will come to bay, 

 though now and then one will charge out at one of the dogs, and then 

 immediately rejoin the herd. I have seen many sable antelope bulls 

 brought to bay by dogs, and I never saw one of these antelopes, when 

 unwounded, lie down to fight, as they usually do when badly wounded. 

 They use their horns with marvellous quickness and dexterity, and if, as 

 they stand or lie at bay, an assegai is thrown at them, they often break the 

 shaft with a sweep of their long curved horns, on the instant that the head of 

 the weapon strikes them ; whilst if a dog seizes them anywhere about the flank 

 or hind-quarters, he will almost certainly have a horn driven right through 

 him before he is many seconds older. I have bad many and many a good 

 dog killed by sable antelopes, and I have known one of these animals to 

 kill four dogs, and grievously wound four others in less than a minute. 

 Once I saw a wild dog [Lycaon venations) attack a sable antelope bull. It bit 

 its powerful antagonist twice, but on each occasion only snapped, letting go 

 its hold again instantly. These wild dogs run mute, and experience, which 

 has become a hereditary instinct, has doubtless taught them how to deal with 

 the various kinds of game on which they prey ; and when in pursuit of sable 

 or roan antelopes, they probably endeavour to tear open the flanks of their 

 victims by a series of snapping bites, and at length gradually expose and drag 

 out their entrails. Before they have been much persecuted, sable antelopes 

 are amongst the least shy of wild animals, and the bold and noble bearing of 

 a herd of these antelopes, all standing broadside on, upon the slope of some 

 wooded hill, gazing with curious though fearless eyes at the first mounted 

 man who had ever invaded their haunts, could not fail to strike the least 

 impressionable of travellers or hunters ; but such sights are possibly no 

 longer to be seen, for I am afraid there is not a corner of Africa south of 

 the Zambesi now left where the game has not been made wild and shy by 

 persecution at the hands either of white men, or natives armed with the 

 white man's weapons. The horns of a sable antelope bull are often 



