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whetting them against rough-stemmed trees,—thus becoming most formidable weapons, 
whether of offence or defence. The horns of the females are much longer and more 
bodkinish in appearance than those of the males, who never meet during the rutting 
season without desperate battles, their courage and quarrelsome disposition frequently 
rendering their duels fatal, one of the combatants often being run slap through the 
body by a lunge from the long rapier-resembling weapons of his antagonist. The 
natives of Southern Africa occasionally arm their spears with the horns of the Oryx ; 
and the Hollanders of the Cape have them polished and headed with silver, to serve as 
walking-sticks, for which purpose they are frequently too long! Strong, active, and 
vigorous, the Gemsbok boldly defends itself when pressed by the hunter, using its horns 
with amazing energy and address, by striking right and left at its assailant with 
prodigious violence. Oppian, the modern Arabs of the desert, and the Hottentots, 
are all agreed in describing the danger of approaching these animals before they are 
totally disabled.” 
A few years later another well-known sportsman, Roualeyn Gordon 
Cumming, arrived in South Africa and commenced the five years of his 
‘ Hunter’s Life,’ of which he has given to the world such a vivid description. 
Cumming first met with the Gemsbok in December 1843 in the “ vast Karroo 
plains’? west of Colesberg, where it was abundant at that epoch. He 
describes some of its chief peculiarities as follows :— 
“‘The Gemsbok was destined by nature to adorn the parched karroos and arid deserts 
of South Africa, for which description of country it is admirably adapted. It thrives 
and attains high condition in barren regions, where it might be imagined that a locust 
would not find subsistence, and, burning as is its climate, it is perfectly independent of 
water, which, from my own observation and the repeated reports both of the Boers and 
aborigines, I am convinced it never by any chance tastes. Its flesh is deservedly 
esteemed, and ranks next to the Eland. At certain seasons of the year they carry a 
great quantity of fat, at which time they can be more easily ridden into. Owing to the 
even nature of the ground which the Oryx frequents, its shy and suspicious disposition, 
and the extreme distances from ‘water to which it must be followed, it is never stalked 
or driven to an ambush like other Antelopes, but is hunted on horseback, and ridden 
down by a long, severe, tail-on-end chase. Of several animals in South Africa which 
are hunted in this manner, and may be ridden into by a horse, the Oryx is by far the 
swiftest and most enduring.” 
In his ‘Hunter’s Wanderings’ Mr. Selous gives us an excellent account 
of the range of the Gemsbok about twenty years ago. He says 
(p. 212) :— 
“The Gemsbuck is almost entirely confined to the arid deserts of South-western 
Africa. In the Kalahari desert, to the west of Griqualand West, it is fairly plentiful, 
