8 
TAKING ANTELOPE WITH CHEETA. 
spoiling the antelope shooting, as although a cheeta hunt is 
most exciting to see for the first time, it becomes very 
monotonous, the runs being so much alike that after a month 
or two no one would care to see them ; but the brute had 
to be sent out to get his food, and as he invariably killed 
the finest buck in the herd^ you may fancy how he spoilt 
sport, besides making the antelopes so wild that it was 
hardly possible to get near them. He was advertised for 
sale for a long time, but as no one would purchase him he 
was eventually given away^ having killed on an average about 
two antelopes a-week for nearly three years! Hunting with 
this animal has been so often described that 1 need not 
say very much about it. The cheeta is taken out on a native 
cart drawn by a pair of bullocks * he has a coil of rope round 
his loins, to which another with a slip noose is attached ; 
this ties him to the cart when not in sight of game, but 
when he is going to be slipped it is held by the keeper and 
a leather hood which covers his eyes is slipped on to the back 
of his neck ; by careful manceuvring the cart is brought within 
ninety or a hundred yards of the antelope ; the cheeta then 
becomes very excited, and on the hood being pushed.. from 
his eyes the keeper turns hts head towards the herd. The 
moment he sees them he quietly slips off on the opposite side 
of the cart, and creeps rapidly along with his chest nearly 
touching the ground ; he thus gains ten or twenty yards 
before the antelope catch sight of him, when at once they 
are off and away. In an instant he is up, and having fixed 
on the finest buck in the herd, he rushes at him in a series 
of the most astounding bounds, so swift that the antelope, 
although one of the fastest of animals, appears to be waiting 
for him ; in vain the poor frightened buck tries to keep with 
