Chap. XI. 
THE TIANYANE. 
209 
and about eight miles from the river, is the limit of the inunda¬ 
tion on the north; there are large tracts of tliis sandy forest in 
that direction, till you come to. other large districts of alluvial 
soil and fewer trees. The latter soil is always found in the 
vicinity of rivers which either now overflow their banks annually, 
or formerly did so. The people enjoy rain in sufficient quantity 
to raise very large supplies of grain and gTound-nuts. 
This district contains great numbers of a small antelope named 
Tianyane, unknown in the south. It stands about eighteen 
inches ffigh, is very graceful in its movements, and utters a cry 
of alarm not unlike that of the domestic fowl; it is of a brownish- 
red colour on the sides and back, with the belly and lower part 
of the tail wdiite; it is very timid, but the maternal affection 
that the little thing bears to its young will often induce it to 
offer battle even to a man approaching it. When the young 
one is too tender to run about with the dam, she puts one foot 
on the prominence about the seventh cervical vertebra, or 
withers; the instinct of the young enables it to understand that 
it is now requu’ed to kneel down, and to remain quite still till it 
hears the bleating of its dam. If you see an otherwise gre¬ 
garious she-antelope separated from the herd, and going alone 
anywhere, you may be sure she has laid her little one to sleep 
in some cozy spot. The colour of the hair in the young is better 
adapted for assimilating it with the ground than that of the older 
animals, which do not need to be screened from the observation 
of bkds of prey. I observed the Arabs at Aden, when making 
their camels kneel down, press the thumb on the withers in 
exactly the same way the antelopes do with their young; 
probably they have been led to the custom by seeing t his plan 
adopted by the gazelle of the Desert. 
Great numbers of buffaloes, zebras, tsessebes, tahaetsi, and 
eland, or pohu, grazed undisturbed on these plains, so that very 
little exertion was required to secm’e a fair supply of meat for 
the party during the necessary delay. Hunting on foot, as all 
those who have engaged in it in this country will at once admit, 
is very hard work indeed. The heat of the sun by day is so 
great, even in winter, as it now was, that, had there been any one 
on whom I could have tlirown the task, he would have been 
most welcome to all the sport the toil is supjDOsed to impart. 
p 
