278 THE KOKUN A NEW KIND OF GNU. — GIRAFFE BONES. 22 June, 
at the base so remarkable as in that sort. In young animals, the 
horns are not decurved, but rise more immediately upwards ; yet in 
time they take a downward direction. Its manners and general ap- 
pearance, are exactly those of the gnu ; and it puts itself in the same 
attitudes, holding its head down, and lashing its tail as it prances 
about. It is also seen sometimes solitary, and sometimes it is met 
with in herds. I have distinguished it by name of Antilope taurina* 
The Mixed Hottentots have given it the name of Bastaard Wildebeest, 
implying that it is considered as a spurious kind of Gnu : Wildebeest 
being the Dutch Colonial name for that antelope. The Bichuanas 
call it Kokun (Kokoon), or rather, with a nasal sound of the w, 
Kokiing (Kokoong). Of this animal, five were shot in the course of 
our travels, f 
Two beautiful zebras made their appearance near the spring, and 
were fired at. Some of the hunters falling in with the skeleton of a 
giraffe, or camelopard, in the plains, were struck with astonishment at 
its size, and the great length of the bones of the leg ; and at their return 
home, excited the attention of their companions by their wonderful 
account of it, for Philip was the only one among them, who had any 
knowledge of the animals of this part of Africa. To the eastward of 
this fountain, and under the same range of hills, there is a place 
named by the Hottentots, Kameel-hoek, (Camel-Corner,) on account 
of its being much resorted to, by camelopards. 
Not chusing to depend wholly on the Hottentots, for keeping 
watch against the Bushmen, I sat up myself till a late hour of the 
* Antilope taurina, B. Tota nigro-fusca; Cornua Isevia extrorsum decurvata, versus 
medium recurvata. Juba longa, barbaque, nigrae. Cauda equina nigra. Species Antilopi 
Gnu proxime ordinanda, cui habitu moribusque simillima. 
f Of these, two were preserved and brought to England ; one of which has been pre- 
sented to the British Museum. 
As in both these species of Gnu, the food passes in the same form as in sheep, deer, and 
in all the rest of the Antelope genus, one is surprised at finding it asserted of the first 
Gnu, in a late French work, that " ses excremens ressemblent a ceux de la vache:" and 
also, that its horns take a direction " d'abord en bas, et en dehors" Dictionnaire des 
Sciences Naturelles, par plusieurs professeurs, &c. tome 2. p. 248. 
