THE TSESSEBE 137 



portant animal. They are absolutely inoffensive 

 and harmless, and I have never heard of any case 

 in which they have displayed the smallest symptom 

 of aggressiveness even under the most intolerable 

 provocation. 



Poor old hartebeeste ! He will always have 

 my esteem and gratitude for the many excellent 

 meals with which he has supplied me, however 

 much my feelings may be tempered by un- 

 profitable recollections of the many weary miles 

 he has made me traverse for them. 



Only in two localities in South-East Africa am 

 I aware of the existence of that singular type, the 

 Tsessebe. In East Luabo I have seen a few small 

 herds on the plains bordering the banks of the 

 Mungari River, and 1 remember some years ago 

 having seen on the Pungwe River near Beira a 

 few of these animals consorting with water-buck 

 and a few herds of zebras. North of the Zambezi 

 it has not as yet, to my knowledge, been traced, 

 although I fancied, whilst on a journey from 

 Nyasaland to Quelimane in 1911, that I saw a 

 spoor which bore a striking resemblance to that 

 of the tsessebe. It was the same shapely, 

 clear-cut impression as that of the harte- 

 beeste, but just a little large and a trifle less 

 pointed. 



I have been informed by Sir Alfred Sharpe 

 that in certain portions of South Central Africa — 

 for instance in the valley of the Loangwa River, 

 and on the immense plains surrounding Lake 

 Bangweolo — very large herds of these animals 

 may be seen — so large, indeed, as to contain 



