THE SPORTSMAN IN SOUTH AFRICA. 4 1 



progress of this antelope on hard ground is extremely awkward and 

 laboured. Their formation, however, enables it not alone to tread 

 with ease the network of papyrus roots and treacherous quagmires 

 in which it resorts, but also to swim with great strength and 

 rapidity. Although not possessed of the diving and other won- 

 derful capabilities attributed to the species by Major Serpa Pinto in 

 his story of African adventure, it will, on being pursued in canoes, 

 often conceal itself by submerging the entire body, the nostrils only 

 being exposed above the surface of the water. From the foregoing 

 remarks it may readily be conceived that any attempt to shoot the 

 Nakong is attended with circumstances of the most extreme diffi- 

 culty; and it is only under very exceptional conditions that the 

 opportunity for a shot can be obtained. Mr. F. C. Selous mentions 

 in his book that, although he often tried hard, he never even 

 obtained a chance of securing a specimen alive or dead. Anyone 

 whose wanderings in the Interior of South Africa bring him to the 

 country frequented by this animal, and whose ambition as a sports- 

 man prompts him to endeavour to obtain one of these very rare 

 antelopes, is strongly recommended not to make the attempt on 

 foot, but to hire a canoe from some of the petty chiefs of the 

 Makoba or Masieuvia tribes, and in one of these take up a position 

 ■with his rifle close to the channels of open water in the reeds. A 

 windy day should be chosen, and the reeds — which, when withered 

 and dry, are highly inflammable — set on fire. The Nakongs, if 

 present, will, on the approach of the flames, endeavour to escape 

 across the open channels from one patch to another, possibly giving 

 the venturesome sportsman a chance of a shot. The flesh is 

 exceptionally rank and almost uneatable to a white man. 



The Palla {Mpyceros melampus). Fig. 3, Plate I. — {Rooibok 

 of the Dutch; Pala of the Bechuanas; hnpala of the Mata- 

 bele.) 



\_Height of adult male about J feet j inches. General colour 

 bright reddish brown, darker above; belly white; the tail about a 

 foot long, white at extremity, with brownish streak down the middle. 

 Horns very graceful but irregular in growth, lyrate, broadly annu- 

 lated, averaging 16 inches from point to base; some, however, 

 measure as much as 21 inches from point to base. Females horn- 

 less. Spoor about 2\ inches, heart-shaped.^ 



