132 LICHTENSTEIN'S HARTEBEESTE 



must fall victims to leopards, hyenas, and other 

 predatory forms. The mothers, my hunters 

 informed me, are extremely vicious about this 

 period and, they were unanimous in declaring, 

 would assuredly attack any intruder, either 

 human or otherwise. 



Wildebeeste are not difficult to approach, 

 and the shooting of these animals has never 

 seemed to me to offer much in the way of sport. 

 I have killed them over and over again when 

 their meat became necessary for the maintenance 

 of my people. Their heads form an interesting 

 but not very striking trophy should the mask not 

 have been preserved ; but, unless this be done, 

 the huge frontal bone is most unsightly, and the 

 whole skull possesses little enough to redeem it 

 from utter gruesomeness. 



Lichtenstein's hartebeeste 1 regard as the 

 least attractive of all the antelopes which roam 

 the forests and plains of Zambezia. It is a 

 wretched creature both from the point of view 

 of appearance and from that of sport. Still, I 

 suppose, most of the many hunters of big game 

 who read these pages will recall him to mind with 

 an indulgent smile. Upon him many of us have 

 fired our first shots, and few there be assuredly 

 whose recollections of him do not connect them- 

 selves with a liberal use of forcible language. A 

 hard beast he truly is, his tenacity of life as- 

 tonishing. Even when mortally wounded, he 

 will often lead the weary and perspiring hunter 

 long distances before consenting to be brought 

 to bag. There is something unspeakably ex- 



