A Breath from the Veldt 



^19 



Mountain. Dead beat — for we had taken but little rest during the day— we 

 sat down on the side of the hill to enjoy the beautiful landscape for a while, 

 and while I was watching the humorous manoeuvres of some baboons on the 

 crest above us, Van Staden discovered a troop of koodoo descending the slope to 

 our left, and evidently going down for their evening drink. There were five 

 cows and a young bull, and as they were not more than 300 yards off, and we 

 were well above them, I had a fine opportunity for observing their graceful 

 and watchful manoeuvres as they timidly advanced. Fortunately none of them 

 turned to look back, and what little wind there was blew from them to us ; 



SHANGAN NATIVE SINGING TO AND PRAISING THE HONEY-GUIDE AS HE IS LED BY THE BIRD TO A BEES NEST 



(The dotted line shows the short flight of the bird.) 



otherwise we must have been seen, as the koodoo's powers of scent and hearing 

 are far keener than those of any of the other Bush antelopes. They advanced 

 slowly and with great caution, stopping every thirty or forty yards, and 

 straining their beautiful eyes and ears to detect the slightest suspicious sign or 

 sound. I noticed particularly how very stiff they keep the fore-legs when in 

 slow motion, and how each leg is in turn planted with evident jar to the 

 shoulder, so unlike the more graceful movement of deer, which bend 

 the knee and fetlock joints freely. We could not eat the waterbuck 

 we had shot, so Van Staden and I tried to approach the herd unnoticed, 



