56 TRAVELS IN 
The gemsbok is also a very beautiful animal, and of a size- 
much larger than the springbok. It has none of that timidity 
which generally marks the character of the antelope ; but, on 
the contrary, if closely pursued or wounded, will coolly sit 
down on its haunches, and keep both sportsman and dogs at 
hay. Its long, straight, sharp-pointed horns, used in defence 
by striking back with the head, make it dangerous to approach. 
Dogs are \ery frequently killed by it ; and no peasant, after- 
wounding the animal, will venture within its reach till it be 
dead, or its strength at least exhausted. The flesh of the 
gemsbok is reckoned to be the best ve-nison that Africa prc- 
duces. 
The koodoo is stil] larger than the gemsbok, and the most 
timid perhaps of the Antelope tribe. The usual size of the 
male is six feet in length and four feet ten inches high. The 
horns of the male, for the female has none, are more beauti- 
ful than those of any other species yet known of the nume- 
rous family of antelopes ; they are twisted in a spiral form, 
and run from three to four feet in length, but are apparently 
ill adapted for the convenience of the animal whose residence 
is mostly in the woods and thickets among the ravines of the 
mountains. The ground of the body is that of a bluish mouse 
colour, transversely marked with white stripes ; on the face 
are also two white oblique bands. A black mane adorns its 
neck, and along the spine there is a ridge of white hairs ; the 
throat from the chin to the chest is furnished with a crest of 
brown hair; the flesh is dry and without flavour. 
{The beds of sand, upon the margin of the valley, were alV 
covered with saltpetre as white as snow. The production of 
