478 Great and Small Game of Africa 



island was equally successful, but on making a third attempt, not an 

 antelope was to be seen, and we concluded that they had all taken refuge 

 in the water. On reckoning up the bag, we found we had killed no 

 fewer than twenty-four head of T. spekei, and though this sounds like 

 butchery, it can only have been a small proportion of the numbers which 

 must have passed us unseen in the bush, nor could we possibly judge at 

 the time of the effect of our shooting. How this antelope came to be 

 on the island, or to exist under conditions so entirely foreign to its swamp- 

 loving nature, is a mystery, and we could only conclude that it might 

 possibly be an interesting relic of the ancient Lubare worship, which 

 deified certain animals and natural objects, and that in accordance with 

 this particular form of religion these antelopes had originally been 

 conveyed to the island, and placed in sanctuary there. Whether there is 

 any foundation for this theory or not, it is nevertheless a curious fact, that 

 of all the surrounding islands which form the great Sesse group, on this 



particular one only are the antelopes said to exist. ., ^ 



' } t Ernest Gedge. 



The Bushbuck — Abyssinian Race (Trage/ap/ius scriptus deculd) 



In Somaliland 



Native Name, Do/ 



The bushbuck of Somaliland has so far been found only on the banks 

 of the Webbi Sheybelli, where it frequents the dense bush near the river. 



It is a rather larger and heavier animal than a fallow deer. Colour 

 reddish brown, with six to seven white stripes and spots ; the head and 

 neck very bare of hair. The male carries horns of about 15 to 16 inches, 

 but the female is without any. 



This buck, in some ways, seems to be more nearly related to the 

 harnessed antelope than to the South or East African bushbuck. It has no 



