A Breath from the Veldt 199 



midst of the game, so I had no time to even attempt a sketch. During this 

 day, though full of hope, and all of us seeing game, we got nothing. Towards 

 the afternoon the old man and I found a fine troop of koodoos, among which 

 was a good bull. Though the cows all stood well, the cunning old rascal kept 

 well in the background, and after half an hour of about the coarsest bit of 

 riding I ever experienced (for he led us through all the worst wait-a-bit he 

 could find), we eventually lost him without a shot being fired. We arrived 

 home dishevelled, discomfited, and desperately sore from the thorns. 



The following day a start was made for the river, where we hoped to find 

 enough game to induce us to stay and hunt for two or three weeks. The 

 journey itself was a rough one, and as we were striking straight across country 

 where no previous trail had been made, our progress was slow, and had to be 

 carefully undertaken to avoid smashing up the waggons against the trunks of 

 trees and sunken sluits. Prince again showed his consummate skill as a driver, 

 and we reached beautiful Nuanetsi about mid-day the same day. 



During our ride an incident occurred which put Van Staden and myself 

 into the best of spirits ; for not only was spoor of all the game fresh and 

 evident, but I succeeded in killing our first old sable bull, and a fine specimen 

 too. Its death, however, was attended by an unfortunate accident, which, 

 though I can but blame myself for my own hastiness, was in a great measure 

 unavoidable. 



In general appearance and sporting qualities the sable antelope {Hippotragus 

 niger) yields the palm to none of his kind. There is about the whole animal 

 that indescribable charm that is so intensely African and so characteristic of 

 the wild life. Its strong individuality must ever stand out in the minds of 

 those who have been so fortunate as to see and shoot it, and it is certainly one 

 of the chief objects of interest in the splendid fauna of that country. Apart 

 from its satin-like 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, when dead, surpasses his 

 rival in elegance of external form, he is but a skulker, and makes but a poor 

 show beside the sable on the Veldt. I would say, if such a comparison be 

 allowable, the two hold their own like the rival beauties of a London drawing- 



1 Any one who has seen a wild sable antelope galloping cannot fail to be struck by its resemblance to the 

 unicorn. The whole appearance of the animal bears a much closer likeness to that mythical creature than 

 the gemsbuck. In outline every point is similar except the horns, and even those on the head of an immature, 

 when seen in profile, are not so very dissimilar. If there is any African animal alive to-day which is the 

 original of our national crest, it is the sable. 



