CHAPTER XIV. 
' THE WATER-BUCK. 
“The antier'd monarch of the waste, 
Sprung from his heathery couch in haste. 
But ere his fleet career he took, 
The dew drops from his flanks he shook ; 
Like crested leader, proud and high, 
Tossed his beamed frontal ta the sky: 
A moment gazed adown the dale, 
A moment snuffed the tainted gale” 
Ir is not possible for the Indian deer-stalker to contemplate the splendid figure of the rare and majestic Antelope now 
depicted, without finding himself forcibly reminded of the Sambur, or Rusa Stag of the sunny jungles which have so often 
echoed to the merry crack of his tried and trusty rifle. Whether in size, in carriage, or in general aspect, the Eliipsiprymnus, 
notwithstanding that he is the proprietor of a pair of persistent horns, in lieu of branched and deciduous antlers, yet preserves 
the closest resemblance to Cervus Aristotelis in the ‘vaward of his youth,” ere his brawny neck has been bowed by a super- 
incumbent load of ponderous attire. Many a time, when the stately fellow, apeing the style of the ‘antlered monarch of the 
waste,’ has sprung from his solitary lair in the deep recesses of the grove—erected his towering front, and tossing his proud 
head, has waved his great horns to the right and to the left—ay, many a good time, as he nobly shook his shaggy and 
redundant mane, have I fancied myself transported from the wilds of Southern Africa, back to the Aromatic forests which 
embosom the cloud-capped mountains of Aboo,* and believed myself again in the lordly presence of a bond jidé member 
of the cervyine group. , 
Nowhere to the southward of the Mariqua is the Water-Buck to be met with, nor is he ever found at any great dis- 
tance from the banks of tropical rivers —abounding chiefly along the margin of the willow-grown Limpopo and her tributaries, 
in the rippling waters of which he delights to lave his grizzled sides —immersing himself to the chin during the heat of the 
day, and rolling in his favourite soiling pool for hours together. This addiction to cold bathing, and decided predilection for 
the vicinaze of water, has suggested the appropriate colonial appellation; his specific nomenclature haying been derived from 
the singular and perfect ellipse of milk-white hair, which, like a band of snowy ribbon, encircling the tasselled tail as it dangles 
from the superior focus, stamps the animal among a thousand. Like the Sambur, the hair of both sexes is throughout of so 
coarse and harsh @ texture as to resemble the scrapings of whalebone; that along the throat and back of the neck being 
chiefly reversed, and of sufficient length to form a complete wiry ruff, which adds, in the male subject especially, not a little to 
the importance of the tout ensemble. The colour and stature are those of the largest ass, but measuring from the hoof to the 
summit of the attire, the front exceeds seven feet in height, and the lofty tiara of white horn standing almost perpendicularly 
over such wild brilliant eyes, imparts a presence so commanding, that on first introduction, the animal cannot fail to strike the 
beholder with admiration. 
Without much fear of contradiction, I believe I may affirm myself to be the ouly European that with his own hand has 
ever slain a Water-Buck. It was towards the source of the Limpopo, as indicated to me by Dr. Smith,}- that the species 
occurred in the greatest abundance; and in that favoured spot, so well adapted to wood craft, 1 have in the course of a 
morning's ramble, often met, besides solitary bucks, with so many as five or six herds, consisting each of a dozen of both 
sexes: some having been even seen swimming across the river within shot of the waggons, Who is disposed to follow me 
* A famons hunting ground in Western India, situate on the Northern limits of Guzerat, wherein, during the hot season of 1835, I registered no fewer 
than sixty first rate stags of the Sambur or Cervus Aristotetis. 
+ Whilst the Dutch were yet in possession of the colony of the Cape of Storms, a solitary horn from the cranium of this magnificent Antelope, was first 
imported among a waggon-load of mutilated spolia from the wilderness of the interior, and exposed for sale in the market of the colonial metropolis, Eyer un 
the alert to enrich the museums of the mother country, the Government offered a large premium for an entire specimett of the species to which such noyel attire 
pertained, but without success. Nuthing more was heard of the animal until Sir Lowry Cole obtained and presented, many years afterwards, to Monsieur Verreaux, 
the French Naturalist at Cape Town, a skin in so mutilated a condition that its. restoration wa’ found to be impracticable; and the merit of introducing a perfect 
specimen to the observation of the scientific world, was finally reaped by Mr. Steedman, who took with him to London a splendid buck that had been obtained 
from the country of the Damaras. Shortly before my arrival in the colony, Dr. Smith had returned from his travels into the interior, bringing a beautifully pro- 
served male and female specimen, the divtingué appearance of ‘which, amid the interesting objects collected during his expedition, did not a little serve to inflame 
the desire I had previously. conceived, of becoming acquainted, in its native wilds, with co rare and eccentric a quadruped, 
