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is no steed at hand; and the herd keeping a constant eye upon their enemy, to obtain another shot before dark is utterly 
hopeless. Noting well the spot, and repeatedly looking back in recognition of the Various landmarks, the disappointed 
sportsman at last returns to the foot of the knoll, resumes a bundle of trophies which he has there deposited, shoulders 
his heavy ordnance, and with a still heavier heart retraces his solitary steps. towards his waggons, to the position of which 
-he. is guided by, a wreath of ascending smoke. 
It is morning; and the dawn has scarcely peeped, ere the hunter, elated with new hope, is again wending his way 
towards the scene of his last evening’s vexation. Accompanied by a party of savages “aud hottentots, he is leading his 
horse over the same grassy slopes which form a succession of deep valleys, bounded at last by mountains rising in shadowy 
perspective. Stretched beneath him also in sombre obscurity, lies the wood-clothed river —a grey mist floating over the 
tops of the trees; and the party, as they advance, brushing off the dew-drops which sparkle like gems on the herbage and 
. flowers, are leaving a broad track behind them. The sun, as he again arises, ‘lighting up in succession each mountain 
summit which had lately slept in shade, is tingiug with prismatic hues the condensed vapours which now hang in white 
wreaths upon their steep and broken sides; but long after the grey gleam of the river has become apparent, the deep 
valley through which it winds is reposing under a calm blue shadow. ‘At a little distance from the spot where the Gems- 
bok was last seen, the party hold a brief consultation over a pool of clotted blood and hair, marking the bed on which 
the wounded beast. has passed a restless night;: but the blood is already congealed, and he from whose side it trickled has 
been gone an hour. Now is the lark rising merrily from the dewy earth, and with a prolonged whistle again logering 
herself upon motionless pinions; the azure sky is spotless and beautiful; and every object around wears the most cheerful 
aspect of libexty and light. Passing over a spur of the mountains which for some time has closed the prospect in advance, 
the party have entered upon a spacious Rplend terrace, whereon all animated mature would seem to reign unmolested. The 
signal being quickly given that man the Paeayee is approaching, beasts of various complexions, assembling with snorts 
aud bounds, are flying in every direction; but the eye of the hunter is riveted upon the trail of the one quarry that he 
ervbie and he heeds them not. Slowly, but with agiaticy: the party advances over the drying sward, scoring out each 
foot-print in succession; and their doubts, occasioned by the crossing and confusion of hoofs, being relieved at intervals by 
drops of fresh blood, they are* guided at length to a solitary bush in the plain, from beneath the shelter of which the 
wounded and watchful quarry is distarbed—a disappointed jackal sneaking off in the meantime from, beneath an adjacent 
stone. Crack goes the rifle once more against the roan ribs of the fugitive! In the twinkling of an eye the hunter is 
in his’ saddle—another instant and he has closed with the flying’ victim—and the next, he is gloating over his prostrate 
prize.. ;' | - | ’ 
Not less from fts singular beauty, than from its extreme rarity, there were few game animals in the whole African 
catalogue’ that I more eagerly sought for than the Roan Antelope — my hankerings after its gay spoils being moreover 
greatly increased by the difficulties that I at first experienced in obtaining possession of them. According to indications 
given by my kind friend Dr. Smith, in whose cabinet I had seen this noble and imposing antelope, it was on an eleyated 
tract of rocky table-land forming a terrace on the mountains between Daniel’s Kuil aud Kramer’s Fontein, that I first dis- 
turbed a herd whilst wandering alone in search of them along the “rigging” of the hills, The thin covering of earth supported 
only a seant and faded vegetation, together with a few scrubby trees and bushes which grew from the fissures of the rock. 
Surmounted by a pair of jagged ibex-looking horns, the magpie head of a sturdy old bull protruded above a thin copse of 
brushwood through which I was riding, was not to be mistaken, I sprang from my horse, and as the whole bloom-coloured 
herd rose to make its rush, sent a bullet spinning betwixt the ribs of their gallant leader. But although—tantalized by an 
occasional glimpse of his silvery form—I followed the bloody trail over hill and through dale for eleven long hours, desisting 
only when the sui had gone down and daylight would serve me no longer, I was finally doomed to disappointment through 
lack of assistance. Not another specimen was seen until we had reached the Tiitgpopo; the elevated tracts lying between which 
river and the- Likwa, divide the principal waters of Southern Africa, and form the peculiar habitat of the Eyuina. Even 
there, it invariably resides in limited families, which seldom contain more than one old bolt a dozen or more of the younger 
males usually herding hy Memnnelees: Equal in stature to the largest Arab horse,* the whole structure —remarkably powerful 
* The Equina —largest of Aigoceri yet discovered, not unfrequently attains the height of fifteen hands at» the wither, Owing to the asinine dimen- 
sious of the ears, and the peculiar curve that they assume, a spectator standing at the distance even of a few yards, might easily be deceived into the belief that 
the females possess horns as well as the males. If the Ceovphea or blue Antelope, said to have been formerly found in the district of Zwellendam, was not in 
point of fact a mere. variety of Eguina, as | am strongly inclined to suspect, — that snecioe must haye passed away and become utterly blotted from the book of 
life. For the: last forty years not an individual has been heard of in Southern Africa; aud the only spoils of the animal extant, are lodged in the museum of 
Paris, whither they are supposed to haye been Brought from the collection of the Stadtholder af ‘Holland, In the every blue grey of this Antelope’s coat, when 
living, is said ta have -consisted the principal distinction from the species whose portrait is annexed, and this colour is described to have entirely dissipated after 
death, in consequence of the black skin, over which the long coarse hair is sparingly scattered, fading when dry. I have often ohseryed the silvery appearance in 
question in the Roan Antelope, whose robe, reflected under particular lights, frequently assumes even a uniform slate colour—the delicate roan-pink or strawberry, 
anit is formed by long loose mixed red and white hair aplctsttane over a sable skin, forming in some of the oldey subjects. confused clouds and flea-bites, and 
after death uniformly fading to a dull brown. For « Leucophatt, 1 would have willingly given a finger of my right hand, and for Barbata (the Takhaitze of Daniel) 
fwo; but not one of the maby natives that I interrogated was aware of the existence of either of these species, and it would appear to me highly probable that 
the latter, of which no specimen has ever been obtained, had been sketched from the Roan Antelope standing at a distance, when that animal would assume very 
much the appearance given by the artist to his Takhuitze, In this opinion, strongly as it savours of high treason, 1 am supported by the drawling pronunciation 
given by the savages to the ward *Etak, by which title the Equina is universally recognized, 
4 
