88 A Breath from the Veldt 



a troop on the move will be seen the relative positions of the animals, and the 

 massed form in which the ewes in the centre run. Young males are generally 

 found singly or in little parties amounting to six or seven. The pallah varies 

 so much in size, and even in colour, in East, Central, and South-east and West 

 Africa that, though really the same animal, the denizens of each district are 

 regarded as distinct species. 



The antelope attains to the finest size and head in the vicinity of Kilmanjaro 

 in North-east Africa, and the smallest in Nyassaland, where it has recently been 

 described by Consul Johnson, a very pretty little head from the latter country 

 being stuffed and shown in our Natural History Museum at South Kensington. 

 Possibly the very best heads of pallah killed on the southern bank of the 

 Limpopo may compare favourably with those of Masailand ; but as a rule they 

 are far inferior, and I fancy every year sees a deterioration in the horns of the 

 southern form. Amongst some 1 50 heads I saw only one really first-class pair 

 on the waggons of the Dutchmen. This increase in size of the heads of the 

 pallah in their extreme northward range is very remarkable ; for as a rule, 

 both in Southern and Central Africa, the tendency of the animal is to become 

 smaller both in body and horn as higher latitudes are reached. The difference 

 is hardly noticeable in the fine roan and sable antelopes, but in the case of the 

 koodoo, the reedbuck, the bushbuck, the springbuck, the eland, the waterbuck, 

 and the gemsbuck, it is certainly most marked. Taken on an average, the 

 heads of koodoo bulls killed in the Transvaal, and at one time in 

 the old Colony, are certainly finer than those of the same species in 

 Mashonaland, whilst the horns of individuals killed in the latter country 

 surpass those of Somaliland and Abyssinia. The reedbuck of the Transvaal is 

 far finer than any found northwards in West Africa, as is also the waterbuck. 

 The gemsbuck and the eland grow finer in the Kalahari than in other parts 

 of Africa, while the springbuck of the Kalahari, Ovampoland, and the 

 Transvaal are small by comparison with those of the Karroo in Cape Colony. 

 The pallah, therefore, after dwindling away to almost a dwarf in Nyassaland, 

 seems to have gained double strength in his East African home, becoming a 

 much finer animal than his South African congener. This is the more curious, 

 as the koodoo, whose food and general requirements are almost exactly similar, 

 shows no difference but the general northward deterioration. 



Hert and I soon grallocked the dead pallah ; and after splitting it we moved 

 on to the outspan place agreed upon, reaching it just as " Tante " (Aunty), as 

 we called Oom Roelefs wife, had got some of her delicious coffee ready. 



