THE BUSHBUCK 145 



ward, however, the exuberance of both colour and 

 courage appears to wane, until, as Zambezia is 

 reached, we find an animal to all bodily appearance 

 similar to the Cape bushbuck but often of a dark 

 yellowish chestnut. There is none, or but little, 

 of that striking bluish grey which is so great an 

 attraction in the southern form, while the striping 

 and spotting are somewhat less distinct. 



Few wild animals there are assm-edly whose 

 flesh is so extraordinarily good as is that of the 

 African bushbuck. I remember when, some years 

 ago, I lived at Zomba in the Nyasaland Pro- 

 tectorate, the wooded ravines of the plateau of 

 that splendid mountain were the favourite haimts 

 of large numbers of bushbuck. Meat in those 

 days — in the shape of beef or mutton — was a 

 luxury upon which our minds had long ceased to 

 brood except occasionally when in gentle, re- 

 miniscent mood. Our daily fare was frugal in 

 the extreme, and consisted of wearisome, vmlovely 

 dishes of under -flavoured fowl or over-flavoured 

 goat. Occasionally, however, one or other of the 

 energetic ones woidd ascend the mountain and pass 

 a day and a night on its cool, healthy uplands, 

 there being after his return, for a brief season, an 

 attraction which enabled us to face the dinner- 

 table almost with enthusiasm, and revel in 

 the unwonted luxury of grUled bushbuck 

 steaks. 



These antelopes, unlike the other members of 

 the order to which they belong, are never found 

 in herds or considerable assemblages ; as a rule 

 you only see two together, male and female, with. 



