Chap. XI. THE TIANYA^E. 209 



and about eight miles from the river, is the limit of the inunda- 

 tion on the north ; there are large tracts of tins sandy forest in 

 that direction, till you come to other large districts of alluvial 

 soil and fewer trees. The latter soil is always found in the 

 vicinity of rivers which either now overflow their banks annually, 

 or formerly did so. The people enjoy rain in sufficient quantity 

 to raise very large supplies of grain and ground-nuts. 



This district contains great numbers of a small antelope named 

 Tianyane, unknown in the south. It stands about eighteen 

 inches high, is very graceful in its movements, and utters a cry 

 of alarm not unlike that of the domestic fowl ; it is of a brownish- 

 red colour on the sides and back, with the belly and lower part 

 of the tail white ; it is very timid, but the maternal affection 

 that the little thing bears to its young will often induce it to 

 offer battle even to a man approaching it. When the young 

 one is too tender to run about with the dam, she puts one foot 

 on the prominence about the seventh cervical vertebra, or 

 withers ; the instinct of the young enables it to understand that 

 it is now required to kneel down, and to remain quite still till it 

 hears the bleating of its dam. If you see an otherwise gre- 

 garious she-antelope separated from the herd, and going alone 

 anywhere, you may be sure she has laid her little one to sleep 

 in some cozy spot. The colour of the hair in the young is better 

 adapted for assimilating it with the ground than that of the older 

 animals, which do not need to be screened from the observation 

 of birds of prey. I observed the Arabs at Aden, when making 

 their camels kneel down, press the thumb on the withers in 

 exactly the same way the antelopes do with their young ; 

 probably they have been led to the custom by seeing this plan 

 adopted by the gazelle of the Desert. 



Great numbers of buffaloes, zebras, tsessebes, tahaetsi, and 

 eland, or pohu, grazed undisturbed on these plains, so that very 

 little exertion was required to secure a fair supply of meat for 

 the party during the necessary delay. Hunting on foot, as all 

 those who have engaged in it in this country will at once admit, 

 is very hard work indeed. The heat of the sun by day is so 

 great, even in winter, as it now was, that, had there been any one 

 on whom I could have thrown the task, he would have been 

 most welcome to all the sport the toil is supposed to impart. 



P 



