THE GEMSBUCK AND ITS CONGENERS 
late years become much more numerous in that district than it used to be 
when I first visited South Africa, more than forty years ago. 
From the Orange River northwards the range of the gemsbuck extends 
through the Kalahari to the southern portions of the Portuguese province 
of Angola. North of the Limpopo it was seldom found to the east of a line 
drawn due south from the junction of the Chobi with the Zambesi; but I 
have met with a few herds as far eastwards as the Ramokwebani River, in 
Western Matabeleland. 
As I have said before, I have never seen gemsbucks in large herds, but 
have often found only three or four consorting together, and I have, I 
think, never met with a troop of more than twenty individuals. As with 
other antelopes at certain times of year, the bulls leave the cows and live 
alone. In the gemsbuck cow the skin is uniformly thin all over the body, 
but in the bull, though it is very thin on the sides and belly, it is 
enormously thick on the back of the neck and to a lesser extent also 
over the withers and on the back. I have never used dogs in hunting 
gemsbucks, but on one occasion whilst trekking through the scrubby bush 
to the east of the Botletli River, we came suddenly in full view of a gems- 
buck bull, to which, as it ran off, two of my dogs gave chase. Hearing 
them barking a short distance ahead, I jumped off the wagon and ran 
after them, and found they had brought the long -horned antelope to bay. 
It just stood threatening them with its horns as they barked at it, but did 
not charge them. Immediately it saw me it broke bay, and never stopped 
again, although the dogs pursued it for some distance. It is generally 
understood that gemsbucks habitually put up a good fight when attacked 
by lions, and, indeed, quite commonly get the best of these encounters. 
Now, no doubt, lions are occasionally killed by gemsbucks, as well as by 
sable and roan antelopes. But I imagine that such accidents are of very 
infrequent occurrence, as lions very well know the character of the weapons 
possessed by all the various species of animals on which they prey, and 
take precautions for their safety when attacking the more dangerous 
among them. When attacking a gemsbuck a lion would probably always 
try to seize it by the muzzle with one of its great forepaws, thereby 
rendering it powerless to use its horns. Accidents, however, sometimes 
no doubt happen; but lions are, as a rule, very scarce in the desert or 
semi-desert countries frequented by gemsbucks. 
Gemsbucks are usually found in very open country, or amongst a scat- 
tered growth of small thorn scrub, but I have known them to pass the heat 
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