CHAPTER VIIL. 
THE SASSAYBE. 
Spread out below, in sun and shade, 
The shaggy glen lies full display’d— 
Its shelter'’d nooks, and sylvan bowers, 
And mendows, flush’d with purple flowers. 
The sultry summer noon is past, 
And mellow evening comes at last, 
With a low and languid breeze 
Fanning the mimosa-trees, 
Which cluster o’er the tangled vale, 
And oft perfume the panting gale 
With fragrance faint—that seems to tell 
Of primrose-tufts, in Scottish dell. 
A Memser of the same subgenus as the Hartebeest, and getierally appearing with it, the Sassaybe is neither less sin- 
gularly colored than its gaudy congener, nor less remarkable for its elevated withers, drooping hind quarters, and triangular form. 
The brush of the sign painter too, has evidently been busy with the robe of this whimsical animal, and would seem equally to have 
left the goodly work unfinished. Seen under different lights, the hues of the body vary and shift from purple violet, to puce, 
pompadour, lilac-pink, and a deep blackish-purple-brown — the daubings on the hams and fore-arms being of a slate-color or 
iwon-grey. Nothing can surpass the beauty of the paces of this animal, which are characterised throughout by the same speed 
and oily smoothness as those of the Hartebeest—the colours above described forming a curious contrast to the bright orange 
and red tints of its brother, whether quietly consorting in mixed herds, or racing past, neck and neck, as if contesting the gold 
cup! Like the Hartebeest, the Sassaybe also frequently turns to reconnoitre the pursuing foe —its long, wise-looking noddle, and 
fiery red eyes, giving it a most sinister appearance, Whilst engaged in taking off the hairy spoils of a Brindled Gnoo shot 
near the Mariqua river where the present species was particularly abundant, a large male advanced to the distance of two hun- 
dred yards, and taking up his position in the shade of an umbrella-topped tree, quietly scanned our operations. The first ball 
from my rifle struck the stem of the mimosa close above his head, though it merely caused him to shift his position to the 
other side; but the second bullet told upon the point of his shoulder with a crack that could not be mistaken. Retirmg to a 
smal] bush, and quietly subsiding, he was gathered unto his fathers, and it was from his remains, the finest of many dozens 
killed during the expedition, that the annexed portrait was made. 
The Sassaybe, like its congener, delights in the neighbourhood of hills, frequenting the open country with island-looking 
mimosa groves, as well as the patches of seraggy forest that skirt the foot of many of the superior mountain ranges, which, 
however, neither species ever ascends. Amongst the parks of mokaala trees, and about the Cashan and Kurichane mountains, 
the bases of which are fringed with stately trees, from whose boughs depend clusters of moss and festoons of various parasitic 
plants, we constantly saw them. In such situations the ground is often broken and stony, abounding in parts with deep holes. 
When in the act of killing a Sassaybe, my horse put his feet into one of these, and coming down with frightful violence, broke 
his own nose, cut my knees and elbows to the bone, and what was a far greater misfortune, and one that I had long antici- 
pated, fractured the stock of my only and especially favorite rifle. Would tears have availed anything, I could have wept over 
the fragments. A strip of the Sassaybe’s hide however rectified the damage for the time, until a second fall ultimately obliged 
me to open a blacksmith’s forge, in order to put the weapon into an efficient state of repair. 
In the thinly-peopled regions of Southern Africa, where the indigent inhabitants, unacquainted with fire-arms, subsist 
almost entirely by the chase, artificial fences, stretching over a great extent of country, are commonly employed to assist in 
gathering and conducting the wild beasts to particular spots, where the pitfal, the spear, and the club, await them, to their 
destruction. The game from far and wide haying been collected and driven onward by a host of marshalled savages, is 
forced by the gradual contraction of the line to some central spot, where hundreds are promiscuously slaughtered. These 
princely battues are especially carried to a great extent in Moselekatse’s territories — that mighty potentate, who has long ceased 
to lead his victorious armies to battle, still condescending to honour with his presence the great hunting expeditions which 
frequently take place. On these occasions, the remnants of the conquered nations being express! y assembled, he is attended 
by a retinue of several thousand yassals, who, extending themselves in a circle, enclose many square miles of country, and 
gradually converge so as to bring incredible numbers of wild animals within a small focus, Still advancing, the ring at length 
becomes a thick and continuous line of men, lemming in the game on all sides, which in desperate efforts to escape, display 
