63 
and on the road leading along the eastern border of the desert from Kuruman to 
Bamangwato it is occasionally to be met with, becoming plentiful if one penetrates 
into the waterless country to the westward, but being unknown to the eastward, of the 
road. Along the waggon-road leading from Bamangwato to Tati there are a few 
Gemsbuck above Pelatsi, Serule, and Goqui, and they are sometimes to be met with on 
the upper course of the Macloutsi, Shashi, and Tati rivers. A few sometimes even 
wander as far eastwards as the Ramokwebani river. On the road leading from Tati to 
the Zambesi Gemsbuck are not often met with, but a few are occasionally to be seen in 
the neighbourhood of Thammasanka and Thammasetsi. A little farther westwards, 
however, in the neighbourhood of the great saltpans, they are numerous, as they are 
also in all the country between the saltpans and the Botletlie river, whilst to the west 
of that river, right through the desert into Damaraland, they are said to run in large 
herds. Where I have met with them, the country has either been open or covered with 
stunted bush, and along the waggon-road from Bamangwato to the Mababe their 
northern range seems to be limited by the heavily-timbered sand-belts, which run east 
and west immediately to the south of that river, and into which the Gemsbuck does not 
penetrate. North of the Mababe, in the direction of the Chobe, although many parts of 
the country appear well fitted for it, the Gemsbuck is unknown. 
“So far as my experience goes, the Gemsbuck is far from being the fleetest or most 
enduring Antelope in South Africa, and in these respects cannot be compared to the 
Tsessebe or Hartebeest. I do not think it is either fleeter or more enduring than the 
Sable or Roan Antelope; and I have myself run one to a standstill without firing a 
shot, and I know of several other men having done the same thing. The horns of the 
cow become longer than those of the bull, as a rule; the longest pair of the former I 
have ever seen measured 38 feet 10} inches, and of the latter 3 feet 6 inches.” 
Mr. H. A. Bryden, writing in 1889, describes the Gemsbok as then “ very 
nearly extinct in the Cape Colony.” Seven or eight years previously two of 
the last had been shot in the north of Calvinia, near the banks of the Orange 
River. 
Mr. W. L. Sclater, Director of the South African Museum, Cape Town, 
writing of the present distribution of the Gemsbok in South Africa, informs 
us that, according to the statistics of the Agricultural Department, there are 
about 5000 Gemsboks still existing in Bechuanaland between Namaqualand 
and Kenhart. There are also said to be plenty of these Antelopes still to be 
found throughout the German South-west African territory and the western 
part of the Kalahari Desert. North of German South-west Africa, we know 
from Capello and Ivens, and other Portuguese authorities, that the Gemsbok 
is also found in Mossamedes and in the adjoining arid districts of Southern 
Angola. 
