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its pursuit as follows:—‘Squatted like a hare upon its snug form, this 
beautiful little animal is rarely to be dislodged until well nigh trodden 
upon ; but the dogs have pushed one out of that bed of fern, and are hunting 
it directly towards us. Returning again and again upon its old track, it 
bounds now over the head of the clustering heather, now doubles round the 
corner of a bush, and now, darting aside into the narrow footpath by which 
we are advancing, stands a moment with averted head to listen for its 
pursuers. Finding them close upon its heels, away it flies again, and making 
a desperate plunge into the heart of a thick shrub, vainly hopes that it may 
have found an asylum. But thine enemies have again ferreted thee out, 
cunning one! and disabled by a stray buck-shot from the roer of that ruth- 
less Hollander, thou art circling round with dizzy brain and drooping head 
in quest of a corner wherein thou mayst lie down to die. Alas! Mynheer’s 
rude hand has seized thee, innocent! and whilst he is fumbling for a knife 
wherewith to terminate thy helpless struggles, who that hears thy plaintive 
cries, like those of a new-born babe, or witnesses the infantine simplicity 
expressed in thy large melting black eye, brimful of dewy tears, can fail 
inwardly to curse his barbarity ?” 
In 1861 Mr. E. L. Layard describes the Grysbok as still found in some 
abundance at the foot of Table Mountain and on the Lion’s Hill in the 
immediate vicinity of Cape Town, though we are somewhat doubtful whether 
that is the case at the present time. 
Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington speak of the Grysbok as being mostly 
found in the eastern districts of the Colony and on the borders of Natal. 
Its habits, they state, are solitary and almost identical with those of the 
Steinbok (2. campestris), except that it invariably frequents hilly, broken, 
and stony country in preference to open flats. Its flesh, they add, is not 
particularly good. As regards its range farther north, Mr. Selous tells us 
that beyond the Limpopo the Grysbok is only met with in certain hilly 
districts of the more easterly portions of the interior. In Matabeleland it is 
very scarce, but in all the hilly country of the Victoria Falls and throughout 
Mashonaland down to the Zambesi it is fairly numerous. Mr. Selous also 
speaks of it as being met with in the South African territory north of the 
Zambesi as far as he penetrated ; and Peters has recorded its presence, not 
uncommonly, in the plains of Sena, Tette, and Macanga in Mozambique up 
to 16° N. latitude. 
