406 Great and Small Game of Africa 



The Roan Antelope (Hippotragus equinus) 

 In South and South Central Africa 



Bastard Gemsbok of Colonial and Orange Free State Dutch ; 



Bastard Eland of Transvaal Dutch ; Klahakila of Basutos ; 



Qualata of Northern Bechuanas ; Tai-hait-sa of Southern 



Bechuanas ; Ee-taka of Amandebele ; Ee-pala-pala C/ie/ia of 



Makalakas ; Impcngo eetuba of Masubias ; Oo-ka-mooh-we of Mako- 



bas ; Mtagaisi of Swazis and Zulus ; Kivar of Masarwa Bushmen. 



The range of the roan antelope in Southern Africa is, or was originally, 



considerably more extended than that of the sable antelope ; but in no part 



of the country has the former animal ever been so common a species as 



the latter used to be and probably still is throughout the greater part of 



South-East Africa lying between the Limpopo and the Zambesi. I first 



met with the roan antelope in Griqualand West in 1871, that is to say, I 



saw the head and skin of a freshly-killed male of this species, brought 



into Campbellsdorp by a bushman in November of that year. It is possible 



that a few still survive in the same district, as I know that roan antelopes 



had not yet become extinct in Griqualand West in 1886. Travelling 



northwards I never met with this species either in British Bechuana- 



land or along the western border of the Transvaal, but I should imagine 



that it must once have existed throughout these regions, since, according 



to Sir Andrew Smith, it used to inhabit the country now known as the 



Orange Free State and the more northerly portion of the Cape Colony. 



In the southern part of the Bechuanaland Protectorate, along the Notwani 



River and on the Upper Limpopo, near the junction of that river with 



the Marico, I have both seen and shot roan antelopes ; and from there 



eastwards and northwards this species used to be generally distributed 



throughout the greater portion of South-East Africa, including the 



