CHAPTER XX. 
THE KOODOO. 
“There the speck-boom spreads its ra 
Of light green leaves and lilac flowers. 
And the bright aloe rears its crest, 
Like stately queen for gala drest; 
And gorgeous erethrina shakes 
Her coral tufts above the brakes ; 
Brilliant as the glageing plumes 
Of sugar-birds among its blooms.” 
Dip empire belong to beauty, the princely Koodoo would experience little difficulty in establishing his right and title to the 
sovereignty of all the Antelopes. Upon not one of this numerous and highly favoured race has Dame Nature showered her 
costly gifts with more lavish prodigality—in none other has she combined such dignity of aspect, such nobleness of demeanour, 
and such splendour of attire.- Alike majestic in carriage, and brilliant in hue, all that marks distinction, or can command 
our admiration in the wild denizen of the waste, would seem to be in him combined and concentrated, Other Antelopes 
may be stately, elegant, or curious, but the solitude-seeking Koodoo is absolutely regal ! 
The appointments of an officer of the Surrey Yeomanry, and eke of our Bombay Cavalry, are invariably recalled to my 
recollection by the colours of this singular looking quadruped. A lively French grey, approaching to sky blue, which forms 
the basis of his splendid uniform, is faced and turned up with white, and regularly laced with transverse silver ribbons, issuing 
from a narrow dorsal stripe—a dark horse-hair mane of considerable length decorating the brawny neck and shoulder, whilst 
both chest and dewlap are tricked out in an elaborate tri-coloured tippet, answering to the embroidered pouch-belt, Thus 
- aecoutred, the chaffron and bearded chin, adorned in their turn with silver scales and crescent, the gallant fellow maintains a 
passing goodly exterior; but his glory is in his cork-screw horns. Ponderous yet symmetrical, they not unfrequently attain the 
surprising length of four feet; and are boldly convoluted into a wide sweeping spiral, forming, with a prominent wreath that 
entwines ‘them, ‘two complete turns, of which the worm is so unerring, that a spear might be thrust down its axis into the 
temples. These elegant but cumbrous appendages seeming almost as ill adapted to the cranium of a quarry that loves the 
thicket, as the chaco to the brow of the equestrian soldier, are thrown dexterously back along the embroidered flanks, as the 
_ lordly wearer dashes, with protruded muzzle, through the mazes of the tangled coppice, or chamois-like, ascends with nimble 
foot the steep and stony mountain side. Death invariably dims the lustre of his brilliant garb, and converting the silvered 
hues into a dirty rufous brown, has doubtless given rise to the fictitious colouring, invariably adopted in portraits which have 
been obtained from dried or stuffed originals. 
Although still existing in the jungly districts immediately bordering upon the Eastern frontier, and even in many portions 
also of the Cape colony, where his retired habits have in some measure shielded him from deadly pericentions the Koodoo was 
not once seen by our party until after we had gained the prolific environs of the Cashan mountains. There 
“in the depths of solitary woods, 
By human foot untrod," 
the uoble animal occurs in such every-day abundance, that many a gory trophy was realised; but his great sagacity, wildness, 
and self-possession, demanding the most skilful generalship to out-manceuvre him, the pursuit necessarily differs altogether from 
the usual stamp of African hunting, and involves no inconsiderable acquaintance with the subtleties of wooderaft. We haye 
here no dashing among countless herds, no helter-skelter riding by the side of a closely packed phalanx; yet have we a quarry 
well worth the hardest day’s fag on foot to triumph over. Shunning both the open plain and the society of the multitude, 
the crafty fellow never ventures from his almost inaccessible fastness, unless during the morning and evening; and even then 
must he be sought aw pied amid the dark upland dells which usually form: his solitary abode. With all his wits about him, 
the lordly bull, active and powerful, may now and then be detected browsing at grey dawn upon some rugged hill summit, or 
ranging some grassy slope, either alone, or escorted by a small troop of skittish dames, all seeming alike his sentinels; but 
taking the note of alarm from the slightest noise, he stamps his brave foot upon the ground, tosses his spiral frontlet to the 
blue sky, and once fairly in motion, never stops to look behind until he has gained the threshold of his sanctuary. There, in 
some deep chasm which the sun-beam rarely penetrates, among tangled ravines, and hollows densely clothed with trees and 
