9 
balancing at one moment upon the giddy verge of a precipice where 
barely sufficient space exists for the hoof to rest—at the next casting 
itself recklessly into the bottomless chasm, and pitching, as if by miracle, 
upon some projecting peak, where all four feet appear to be gathered into 
the space of one. Another spring, and, clear of the intervening gulf, 
it is nimbly scaling yon perpendicular barrier, that resembles the wall 
of a lofty citadel—and now it is sweeping securely away over the naked 
and polished tablets of granite which pave the summits of those elevated 
regions.” 
Modern authorities on the Mammals of South Africa inform us that the 
Klipspringer, although not met with in the immediate vicinity of Cape 
Town, is still fairly common in certain districts of the broken and moun- 
tainous interior. In the hills about Kanya and Molopolole and in 
Bechuanaland, Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington tell us it is plentiful. The 
same is the case in the Zoutspansberg, Waterberg, and Murchison Ranges, 
in the Transvaal, and throughout the broken portions of Matabeleland. 
Mr. Selous speaks of it as being “particularly plentiful in the curious 
detached stony hills of Matabeleland and Mashonaland.” In Natal Mr. W. 
H. Drummond tells us that he only found the Klipspringer on the 
Drachensberg Range, and, beyond the limits of the colony, on the precipitous 
faces of the Bombo Mountains. 
Mr. Selous did not meet with this Antelope north of the Zambesi, but we 
have excellent authorities for its existence far beyond that limit. Peters, in 
his ‘Reise nach Mossambique,’ has recorded its occurrence on the Caruera 
Mountains near Tette. Sir John Kirk found it “singly or in pairs near the 
Kebrabassa Rapids of the Zambesi and on the Murchison Rapids of the 
Shiré ;” and Mr. Whyte has sent us specimens from Mount Milanji, in Nyasa- 
land, where it is found in pairs among rocks and on the higher ridges. It 
is also met with on Mount Zomba. 
On Lake Nyasa Mr. Crawshay tells us that the Klipspringer is known 
as the “Chinkoma,” and is common in rough mountainous country. 
He praises its venison as “excellent,’ and says that the skins are 
much prized by the hill-tribes of Nyasaland, who convert them into 
bags for carrying bread. Passing further northwards into German East 
Africa, we find this Antelope recorded as found in various mountainous 
localities. Bohm met with it on the Venusberg in Ugunda and Bohmer 
VOL. II. C 
