334 ^ Breath from the Veldt 



received in the stomach. I have seen her give him a severe blow, knocking 

 him clean off his legs, to keep him away. I believe that the horns of the 

 wildebeest obtain their full growth at two years of age, and that within another 

 two years — owing to the terribly rough way in which they are used — they 

 begin to crack and break away round the bases, until eventually the palms are 

 worn quite away to the thinness of the horn beyond the curve, while the two 

 bases stand up like round knobs on either side of the forehead, but do not in 

 any way grow together. In the Royal Natural History, vol. ii. part x. it is said 

 that " in very aged bulls the two horns approximate at their bases, so as to form 

 a helmet-shaped mass completely covering the part of the skull as in the Cape 

 buffalo." This is quite incorrect, as the bases of the horn never converge 

 together and mass like those of the Cape buffalo, but keep their respective 

 positions, with a space of about three inches between them covered with skin 

 and hair, as in the bulls that have just reached maturity. Except the wearing 

 away of the palms of the horns, the only difference between mature bulls and 

 very old ones is in the colour of the hair covering the upper part of the fore- 

 head and between the horns to the back of the skull, which gradually changes 

 with age from a rich warm brown to jet-black, and a somewhat similar alteration 

 of colour over the whole coat of the animal, which every year becomes more 

 pronounced. The troops to-day, where they exist, number as formerly from 

 fifteen to fifty individuals, the smaller troops generally consisting of cows and 

 immatures with one adult bull, whilst the larger may contain four or five adult 

 bulls. The old bulls either herd together in parties of three or four, or wander 

 about alone. Judging from the number of these latter (whose heads seem to be 

 much worn) and the rapidity with which males reach maturity and then 

 proceed to decline in head, I take it that the period during which bulls remain 

 as masters of any particular herd is but short ; and there seems every reason to 

 believe that if not previously ejected by some new aspirant to the position, the 

 master is turned out by the cows themselves as soon as he shows the slightest 

 sign of age. When not engaged in drawing I used to lie out every day and 

 watch the herd near the farm, and twice I saw an old bull come up and attempt 

 to join the troop, when two or three cows detached themselves from the rest, 

 and with their heads down charged straight at him, forcing him to beat an 

 ignominious retreat. Sometimes, too, when a hunted troop is galloping away 

 in circles, an old bull that has been by himself will try to join the retreating 

 string, when several cows will turn together and fight him off. Every attitude 

 and movement of those wild, fierce-looking antelope is more or less peculiar to 



