113 
is about 10 or 12 inches in length, pointing nearly vertically upwards. 
Measured from the top of the palm outside the curves to the tip, good horns 
attain from 24 to 26 inches. 
Hab. South Africa, south of the Limpopo. 
The extraordinary form of the Gnu quickly attracted the notice of the 
early Dutch settlers at the Cape. They called it the “ Wilde-Beest,” sup- 
posing it to be a wild form of the domestic cattle, whilst the native name 
was stated to be Gnow or Gnu. As early as 1776 a living specimen of 
the Gnu appears to have reached Amsterdam, and was described by 
Allamand*, whose account of it was copied by Buffon in the Supplement to 
his ‘ Histoire Naturelle, and by Vosmaerf. In 1777 Zimmermann latinized 
the native name, and used it specifically as gnow. ‘This term was softened 
by Gmelin into gnu, and thus modified has been generally adopted as the 
specific name of this Antelope. 
The older authors described the Gnu as lively, active, and petulant, 
trotting, ambling, and galloping with great swiftness; the males bellowing 
somewhat like a bull, the young ones having a “nasal murmur,” “They 
are sportive, and when alarmed always commence by playing with each other, 
striking sideways with their horns; but this lasts only for a moment, and 
the whole troop soon flies away across the desert with amazing speed.” By 
the year 1820 the Gnu appears to have been driven far from the neighbour- 
hood of Cape Town, and even at that period not to have been found nearer 
than the Karroo district. 
Sir Andrew Smith, whose expedition into the interior took place in 1834, 
1835, and 1836, gives the grassy plains north of the Vaal River as the ordinary 
habitation of the Gnu at that epoch. After the fall of the summer rains the 
present species, he tells us, leaving its congener, the Brindled Gnu, behind, 
passes the Orange River into the Cape Colony. Here it becomes the prey of 
the hunters of all sorts who at this season turn out every year to track and 
slaughter the advancing herds. 
Cornwallis Harris, who visited the Cape Colony shortly afterwards, tells us 
nearly the same story. He likewise found the Gnu, to the illustration of 
* ‘Histoire Naturelle du Gnou, du Grand Gerbe et de l’Hippopotame.’ Amsterdam, 1776. 
7 ‘ Beschryving van een nieuw viervoetig Dier aan de Kaap de Goede Hoop geheeten: Bosch- 
buffel en by de Hottentotten aldaar genaamd Gnou.’ Amsterdam, 1784. 
