THE TSESSEBE OR SASSABY 
As a rule, tsessebe antelopes live in South Africa in small herds of from 
five or six to ten or fifteen individuals, old bulls often being met with alone; 
but in 1879, and again in 1884, 1 met with enormous herds of these ante- 
lopes, numbering, I am sure, several hundreds of individuals, on the 
Mababi plain to the north-east of Lake N’gami. Where the range of the 
tsessebe is co-existent with that of any race of hartebeest or wildebeest, 
the two species do not commingle, but individuals of the one may some- 
times be seen accompanying herds of the other. Thus I have seen a single 
wildebeest bull with a herd of tsessebe, and a single tsessebe — probably a 
bull — with a herd of Lichtenstein’s hartebeests. I also once met with a 
tsessebe and a Cape hartebeest, both bulls, living together in what is now 
the Bechuanaland Protectorate. 
Throughout the greater part of its range in South Africa, the tsessebe 
is found in country more or less covered with scattered bushes or open 
forest, but on the high, open grass downs of Mashonaland, where there are 
no bushes or trees whatever, it used to be the commonest species of 
antelope. Wherever it lives, the tsessebe is, I believe, a grass-feeder, 
never browsing on the leaves of bushes even at the driest time of year. 
Where I have seen more tsessebe antelopes than anywhere else, on the 
comparatively small though perfectly open Mababi plain, these animals 
congregated in very large numbers from the surrounding country during 
the dry season in order to be able to drink daily at the edge of the great 
reed bed into which the Mababi River pours its waters and from which 
there is no outlet. The hartebeest -like appearance and habits of the tsessebe 
caused the old Boer pioneers who first encountered it to the north of the 
Orange River to give it the name of “ bastard hartebeest,” by which name 
it is still very generally known in South Africa. As a rule, tsessebe ante- 
lopes are very wary, and as they are also excessively sharp-sighted, they 
are difficult to approach, though their calculations as to what is a safe 
distance to maintain between themselves and a man with a gun must have 
been rudely upset of late years by the introduction of the modern long- 
range low -trajectory sporting rifle. Single bulls may often be seen standing 
on the large anthills which are so common a feature of African landscapes, 
and from which they are able to obtain a very extensive view over the 
surrounding country; when a herd has been disturbed, two or three 
of its members, after running off for some distance, will often climb on to 
as many anthills — which may be ten or fifteen feet in height — and from 
these coigns of vantage keep watch on the movements of their pursuers. 
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