230 THE MAHARIF ANTELOPE. [chap, vih 
He was immediately skinned, and the hide was cut 
into long strips about three inches broad; the portion 
of mane adhering had the appearance of a fringe ; each 
strip was worn as a scarf; thus one skin will produce 
about eight or ten ornaments. 
I sent my men to camp, and, accompanied by 
Richarn, mounted on my horse “ Mouse/' I rode 
through the park-like ground in quest of game. I saw 
varieties of antelopes, including the rare and beautiful 
maharif; but all were so wild, and the ground so open, 
that I could not get a shot. This was the more annoy¬ 
ing, as the maharif was an antelope that I believed to 
be a new species. It had often disappointed me; for 
although I had frequently seen them on the south-west 
frontier of Abyssinia, I had never been able to procure 
one, owing to their extreme shyness, and to the fact of 
their inhabiting open plains, where stalking was impos¬ 
sible. I had frequently examined them with a tele¬ 
scope, and had thus formed an intimate acquaintance 
with their peculiarities. The maharif is very similar 
to the roan antelope of South Africa, but is mouse 
colour, with black and white stripes upon the face. 
The horns are exactly those of the roan antelope, very 
massive and corrugated, bending backwards to the 
shoulders. The withers are extremely high, which give 
a peculiarly heavy appearance to the shoulders, much 
heightened by a large and stiff black mane like that of 
a hog-maned horse. I have a pair of horns in my 
possession that I obtained through the assistance of a 
lion, who killed the maharif while drinking near my 
tent; unfortunately, the skin was torn to pieces, and 
the horns and skull were all that remained. 
Failing, as usual, in my endeavours to obtain a shot, 
I made a considerable circuit, and shortly observed the 
tall heads of giraffes towering over the low mimosas. 
There is no animal in nature so picturesque in his 
native haunts as the giraffe. His food consists of the 
leaves of trees, some qualities forming special attrac¬ 
tions, especially the varieties of the mimosa, which, . 
