200 A Breath from the Veldt 



room. The fair one sits quietly in a corner, charming her immediate circle with 

 her graceful shyness and beauty, and people take sly glances at her from the 

 other end of the room, while pretending to devote their attention to some one 

 else, while her black-eyed rival flaunts into the room as if she owned the entire 

 show, and commands the attention of all eyes by her more brilliant and striking 

 charms. The one attracts attention slowly, the other commands it at once. 



Roughly speaking, the height of this grand antelope at the shoulder is 

 about 4^ feet ; but he looks much taller, owing to his great shoulders .and 

 unusually thick neck ornamented with its erect crest of hair. The tail is long, 

 and has a good wisp of hair at the end, which, like the tails of the roan 

 antelope and the waterbuck, swings from side to side as the animal gallops 

 along. Like the koodoo, the horns of the sable are its chief glory, and the 

 noble manner in which the head is carried by the buck when on the move 

 is a splendid thing to see. Unlike all deer, and nearly all antelope, the sable 

 when running arches the neck instead of raising the chin — a habit which 

 adds greatly to its pictorial attractions. The body of the sable, as will be seen 

 from my rough sketch of the bull shot by young Basadanote — a sketch taken 

 immediately after death — is short and very thick-set ; but when the animal 

 carries a fine head, say 40 inches, the horns look at a distance as if arching 

 over the whole length of its body. A good adult head shows 36 inches of 

 horn, though heads of 40 inches are not uncommon. I was exceptionally 

 fortunate in the four bulls I secured, as they measured over the curve 36, 36^, 

 41, and 45^ inches, the last a grand specimen, of which I shall speak later on. 



The largest, as well as probably the best head that has ever been secured, 

 is recorded in Ward's Horn Measurements. It was shot by Mr. Barber, of 

 Johannesburg, in the low countries, and measures 46 inches.^ The range of 

 the sable antelope in South Africa is principally confined to the east and north 

 of Mashonaland and Matabeleland until the Zambesi is reached. Selous found 

 it in small numbers as far up the Chobe as he went, and states that in that 

 country the average of heads is finer than elsewhere. There is every reason 

 to believe that it ranges right westward from here to the Quinine River, for 

 it is common everywhere northward in the Barotsi, Mushakalumbwi, and 

 Lake territories. Sir John Willoughby mentions having seen it near Kilimanjaro 

 in East Africa, and Mr. Jackson says it is common in certain localities in 

 German East Africa. 



1 Since these lines were written, a specimen with horns measuring 48 inches has been obtained by- 

 Mr. Coryndon from natives in the country to the east of Barotsiland. 



