CHAPTER VII. 
THE CAAMA OR HARTEBEEST. 
DU Scarlett he viy HiT a bucke, 
Wnv fAige he killed a Dor, 
But Litlle Oohw killey a Parte of Greere, 
dike hundred foot him fro, 
Moy on that heart, gat Robyn Poote, 
Shot such a shot for me, 
ZT rie mp hearse a puntred miles, 
Co find a match for thee. 
Arrica was looked upon by the ancients as the land of Zoological prodigies, It is not possible to open the works of 
those amongst them who have treated of the natural productions of the country, without finding some passage, in unison with 
the general opmion of the time, that in this wild quarter of the globe, nature sported even to prodigality, and was profuse of 
monsters in her chartered libertinism. * 
The subject of the annexed portrait, which is undeniably entitled to a very distinguished place in the catalogue of animal 
eccentricities, throughont the more Southern regions of the Continent represents the Bubalis (Bov@adoc) of Northern Africa, whieh 
was known by that title to Aristotle, Oppian, and Pliny, and is styled by the Arabs, the Bukr el Wash, or cattle of the forest. 
In size and character the two species very closely resemble each other,—the principal distinctions being, that the black daubing 
on the legs is wanting in the latter, and that the flexures of its horns are less strongly pronounced than in the Hartebeest. 
Both animals are alike found in small flocks, headed by three or four stout males, which, adopting the law of detur fortiori, 
expel the less powerful adults of their own sex, and oblige them to form a society of their own, Their single combats are 
frequently fierce and bloody. Dropping down on their knees to fight, and placing the forehead parallel with the ground by 
bringing the nose between the fore-legs—brow to brow, like rams, they batter each others’ skulls with the greatest fury — 
their gnarled and angular horns rattling together with a great noise, and not unfrequently becoming so fast locked in each 
other, as to be disengaged with difficulty—the wounds inflicted during these sanguinary tournaments being jagged, and often 
of a very extensive nature. 
Beest, m the language of the Hollanders, bearing exactly the same signification as Jeast with the English grazier, the 
Colonial nomenclature bestowed upon this animal may correctly be rendered, the or-stag, or cervine-cattle. The Hartebeest was 
formerly common in all parts of the Cape, but persecution has gradually reduced the strength of the species to a single herd, 
the surviving remnant having now been taken, like the Bonti-boks at Swellendam, under the special protection of Government 
—no one being suffered to compass their destruction. This species is liable to the fatal distemper already noticed as origin- 
ating in a kind of 4ofs, probably the larve of an Hstrus, which force their way into the nostrils, and consume many of the 
larger African game quadrupeds. The head of the Hartebeest is literally crammed with these queen-ant-looking maggots, 
numbers of which are constantly expelled by the process of snorting. The calves, which are produced singly in April and 
September, are tractable and readily domesticated; and so distinctly are all the peculiarities in the horns of the Bubalis 
marked on those of certain ox-like animals which are represented in antique Egyptian sculpture as harnessed to a chariot, that 
it has become a question whether that animal was not formerly used by the people of that country as a beast of draught. In 
their paintings the wild ox is often too much made to resemble a common ox; but it is nevertheless sufficiently evident that 
the artist had in view the Bubalis, or Barbary cow; and the Theban sculptors, who had a_ better opportunity of becoming 
acquainted with that animal, have succeeded in delineating its character far more satisfactorily than the painters of Beni 
Hassan. 
William Twici, grand huntsman to King Edward the Second, and author of a skilful treatise upon the gentle art of 
venerie, would unquestionably have included the Hartebeest among his “beasts of sweete flight.” Although the great elevation 
of the withers, and the singular obliquity of the back towards the crupper, give the animal a grotesque and somewhat awk- 
ward appearance when galloping, its paces —long, oily, and beautiful—form the very beau ideal of racing action. Moving at a 
smooth and swinging canter, throwing the hind quarters well under the body, brandishing the glossy black tail, and carrying the 
huge beamy head in the most stylish manner, its beetling brows surmounted by a lozenge-shaped coronet of embossed horn, and 
its brilliant orange hues eccentrically variegated with abrupt black markings, all sparkling in the sun, the Caama— notwithstand- 
ing its three-cornered build—euts a very majestic appearance. Followed, it frequently stops; and turning proudly towards the 
foe with a most sapient look, sneezes with great violence —an overt act of folly, which was noticed drolly enough by Bewick, 
* Quarterly Review for May 1839. p. 189, 
y ¥ 
