446 Great and Small Game of Africa 



never very large herds. The largest number of these antelopes I ever 

 saw together was on 31st August 1880, on the Upper Umfuli River in 

 Mashunaland. I first saw two old bulls, which, on being disturbed, joined 

 a herd of at least twenty cows, besides several fine young bulls with horns 

 from 2 to nearly 3 feet in length, making a herd of nearly thirty koodoos 

 altogether. If my memory serves me right, there was not a single small 

 calf with any of these cows, and, as a rule, I think they do not commence 

 to drop their calves till late in October. Old koodoo bulls are, as a rule, 

 met with alone, or two, three, four, or five together. I have on many 

 occasions seen the latter number consorting together towards the end ot 

 the dry season, and upon one occasion I saw eight of these magnificent 

 creatures — all of them old males — in one band. This was on the southern 

 bank of the Chobi River in September 1874. It was the afternoon of a 

 scorching hot day, and I was sitting in a canoe and being paddled across 

 the placid waters of a broad lagoon formed by the overflow from the river, 

 when I caught sight of first one, then another koodoo bull, and soon 

 counted eight of them. But little shooting had then been done in this 

 part of the country, and these ordinarily suspicious and retiring antelopes had 

 come down to drink in the early afternoon. When I first saw them they 

 had just slaked their thirst and were walking slowly along the water's edge, 

 one behind the other, in the shade of some tall acacia trees, beneath which 

 there was no bush or undergrowth to hide them from our view. The 

 wind was off the land, so, whispering to the Kafirs not to make the 

 slightest noise, I had the canoe paddled slowly past within fifty yards of 

 them. As we glided silently by they halted, and stood gazing at us, their 

 great ears cocked, and the fringes of long brown hair hanging beneath 

 their throats moving gently in the light breeze. They were all of them 

 apparently full grown and carried splendid heads, but three amongst 

 them excelled their fellows in this respect, and it cost me an effort to 

 refrain from slaying one of these. I did not, being well supplied, however, 



