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succession of salt-pans, upon which numerous great herds of Blessboks were 
busily licking the crystallized efflorescence. Alarmed at the approach of our 
cavalcade, vast troops of them were continually sweeping past against the 
wind, carrying their broad white noses close to the ground like a pack of 
harriers in full cry. Having never obtained any specimens of this species, 
and our stock of provisions, moreover, grievously requiring to be recruited, 
I mounted Breslar, my favourite Rosinante, and, little heeding whither I 
sped, dashed into the very thick of the Antelopes. The pine-apple hill 
bearing east about five miles, must, I concluded, prove a never-failing 
landmark to direct my return to the road, which, however faint it had 
become, could still readily be distinguished by a practised eye. Dealing 
death around, I thus continued to scour the ensanguined plain, and to use 
my pleasure with the herd before me, which had in the meantime increased 
from hundreds to thousands—reinforcements still pouring in from all 
directions when, crying ‘hold, enough,’ I stayed my hand from slaughter, 
and having divested some of the primest of their brilliant party-coloured 
robes, I packed the spolia on my horse, and, well satisfied with my _ per- 
formance, set out to rejoin the waggons. But ah! vainly was it that I 
sought for them. Cantering to and fro between the string of frosted 
salt-pans and the little hill, which, floating in the sea of mirage that 
environed it, seemed as though poised in the sky, again and again I strained 
my eyes for the road. The monotony of the landscape baffled all 
attempts at recognition, and my search proved utterly fruitless. Every 
feature of the scene was precisely the same—the table mountains were 
completely obscured by the mid-day haze—and in the constant recurrence 
of similar forms, I lost the points of the compass, and at last became totally 
bewildered.” 
In fact it took Harris on this occasion nearly three days and three nights 
wandering before he managed to rejoin his waggons. 
At the present time these mighty herds have altogether vanished. So 
late as 1861 Mr. E. L. Layard wrote that the Blessbok was “still found in 
considerable herds on the north-eastern border of Colony.” But in 1889 
Mr. Bryden (‘Kloof and Karroo’) tells us that this Antelope had become 
quite extinct within the limits of Capeland. Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington, 
however, inform us that the Blessbok is still to be found on some farms in 
the Transvaal, and in one or two spots in the Orange Free State. ‘“* Previous 
