144 THE TIANYANE. Chat, ju. 



In order to assist in the support of our large party, and got 

 a sight of the adjacent district, I went several times to the 

 north of the village for game. The country is covered with 

 clumps of beautiful trees, and between them fine open glades 

 stretch away in every direction. When the river is in flood 

 these glades are inundated. The soil is dark loam, as it is in 

 all the parts which are washed by the overflow, while among 

 the trees it is sandy, and not so densely covered with grass as 

 elsewhere. A ridge, running parallel to, and about eight 

 miles from the river, is the limit of the inundation on the 

 north. The people enjoy rain in sufficient quantity to raise 

 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, and is of a brownish-red colour on the 

 sides and back, with the belly and lower part of the tail 

 white. It is very graceful in its movements, and utters a cry 

 of alarm not unlike that of the domestic fowl. Though 

 extremely timid, the maternal affection it bears its young will 

 often induce it to offer battle to a man. When her fawn is 

 too tender to run about with her, she puts one foot on the 

 prominence about the seventh cervical vertebra, or withers, 

 to make it lie down in the place she selects, and there it 

 remains till she summons it by her bleating. If a gregarious 

 she-antelope is seen separated from the herd, she is sure to 

 have laid her little one to sleep in some cozy spot. The 

 colour of the hair in the young assimilates better with the 

 ground than that of the older animals, which do not need to 

 be screened from the observation of birds of prey. I re- 

 marked that the Arabs at Aden made their camels kneel by 

 pressing the thumb on the withers. They have probably 

 derived the custom from the gazelle of the Desert. 



Such great numbers of buffaloes, zebias, tsessebes, tahaetsi, 

 and eland or pohu, grazed undisturbed on these plains, that 

 little difficulty was experienced in securing a fair supply of 

 meat for our party during the inevitable delay. Hunting on 

 foot, in this country, is very hard work. Winter though it 

 was, the heat of the sun is so great, that, had there been any 

 one on whom I could have devolved the office, he would have 

 been welcome to all the sport. But the Makololo shot bo 



