292 KLOOF AND KARROO. 



to State that this noble antelope, one of the most 

 beautiful and striking as well as one of the largest of 

 its race, is still . fairly abundant in the Eastern 

 province. Of late years, indeed, owing to the 

 preservation of British farmers, it has even largely 

 increased in numbers. It is found on the slopes 

 of the Great Winterhoek Mountains, and on the 

 Messrs. Hayward's farms in the district of Uitenhage, 

 thanks to their fostering care, fifteen or twenty may 

 now be seen in a day's hunting. It may be noted, 

 however, that these koodoos are only hunted for a 

 short time in each winter. It is hardly necessary to 

 mention that, if left to the tender mercies of the 

 Boers, this antelope would soon be mercilessly shot 

 off. Last winter a bull koodoo, with horns four feet 

 long, and weighing nearly 500 lbs., was shot in the 

 Uitenhage district. They are also found in the 

 bush-veldt near the lower portions of Gamtoos River, 

 Sunday River, and Fish River, as well as in the 

 neighbourhood of the Zitzikamma Forest, and at the 

 eastern end of the Zwartberg range. 



The Gemsbok or Oryx {Oryx capensis) . — This rare 

 and singular antelope — undoubtedly the prototype of 

 the fabled unicorn, which it resembles in nearly every 

 particular, except that its long horns (which, by the 

 bye, seen in profile, look like a single horn) are set 

 back instead of forward — is very nearly extinct in 

 Cape Colony. Seven or eight years since, two of 

 the last were shot in the very north of Great 

 Bushmanland (now known as Calvinia) , towards the 

 Orange River, by members of a Government Survey 

 Expedition, and a few still linger there and on the 

 eastern confines of Little Namaqualand. Formerly, 

 the gemsbok was plentiful on every karroo of the 



