25 TRAVELS IN 
promlfed to afFord me neither much fport. nor 
any very valuable fubjefts of natural hiftory. 
Game was very fcarce in them, and I faw 
hardly any thing but a particular fpecies of 
antelope, called by the Hottentots kainft., and 
by the Dutch klip-fpringers (rock leapers), of 
which no author has yet given a perfect de- 
fcrlption. 
The kainfi has received from the Dutch the 
appellation of klip fprlnger on account of the 
eafe w^ith which it leaps from rock to rock ; 
and indeed of all the antelopes there is no one 
equal to it in agility. It is about the fize of a 
kid of a year old, and of a yellowifh grey co- 
lour ; but its hair has this peculiarity, that, in- 
ftead of being round, pliable, and firm, like 
that of moft other quadrupeds, it is flat, harfh, 
and fo little adherent to the fkin that the 
llighteft fridion makes it fall off. Nothing is 
more eafy, therefore, than to deprive this ani- 
mal of its hair : dead or alive it is the fame ; 
to rub, or even to touch the animal is fufEcient. 
I have often endeavoured to preferve the flvin 
with the hair on it of thofe I have killed, but 
I could never fucceed ; for, whatever care I 
took in flaying them, the fur always came oflf 
in 
