TAE LIFE OF MAMMALS 
This was an old buck of the sable antelope, the rarest and most beautiful 
animal in Africa. It is large and powerful, partaking considerably of the 
nature of the ibex. Its back and sides are of glossy black, beautifully 
contrasting with the belly, which is white as driven snow. The horns are 
upward of three feet in length, and bend strongly back with a bold sweep, 
reaching nearly to the haunches. .. The one which was now before me 
was the first I had seen, and I shall never forget the sensations I experienced 
on beholding a sight so thrilling to the sportsman’s eye.”’ 
In that admirable work of the artist John Millais, ‘‘A Breath 
Sable from the Veldt,”*” which is replete with charming 
Antelope. sketches of South African scenes and animals, many 
pages are given to this beautiful creature. 
“There is about the whole animal,”’ this artist assures us, ‘‘that inde- 
scribable charm which is so intensely African and associated with the wild 
life. Apart from its satinlike hide, sweeping horns, erect mane, and 
great strength, the sable antelope presents an appearance of fearlessness 
and nobility that is very striking, to say the least of it. Though the koodoo 
surpasses his rival in elegance and general appearance when dead, he is 
but a skulker, and makes but a poor show beside the sable on the veldt.... 
Like the koodoo the horns of the sable are its chief glory, and the noble 
manner in which the head is carried by the buck when on the move is a 
splendid thing to see. I could hardly imagine a finer subject for an animal 
painter.” 
All these antclopes have an equine form and gait, but this 
one as he stands on the open plain where they love to pasture, 
a few together (mostly chestnut cows), with neck arched, mane 
flying, and chin drawn down, personifies a mettlesome, coal- 
black steed. Schulz’ says the animal mus? take this atti- 
tude, in consequence of the length, curve, and sharpness of 
the horns, whose points would otherwise severely lacerate the 
back when the buck was in rapid motion; the horns are used 
with nervous quickness and force as weapons, wielded with 
undaunted courage even when attacked by lions. “More 
than once have natives related to us,” Schulz notes, “that they 
have found the remains of a lion and sable lying side by side 
with the lion transfixed by the sharp horns of its prey.” It is 
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