Mr. Pringle, when writing on the Hartebeest, says of it that it “is one of the largest and handsomest of the Antelope family.... In the nooks of the narrow ravines, through which the game are wont to descend from the steep and stony mountains, for change of pasturage, or to drink at the fountains that ooze from their declivities, I have frequently found fresh skulls and horns of the Hartebeest, those slight relics being all that remained to indicate that there the Lion had surprised and rent his prey, and that the ferocious Hyæna had followed and feasted on the fragments, devouring even the bones, except the skull and a few other unmanageable portions.” [Illustration: BUBALINE ANTELOPE.] The BLESBOK, BONTE-BOK, and SASSABY are about the size of a calf three months old. Their horns are lyrate and ringed at their bases. The two former are of a purple-red colour, white faces and white rumps. Of the Blesbok, Mr. C. J. Andersson remarks--“It is of a beautiful violet colour, and is found in company with black wilde-beests and Spring-boks in countless thousands, on the vast green plains of short, crisp, sour grass occupying a central position in South Africa. Cattle and Horses refuse to pasture on the grassy products of these plains, which afford sustenance to myriads of this Antelope, whose skin emits a most delicious and powerful perfume of flowers and sweet-smelling herbs.” The Sassaby, or Bastard Hartebeest of the Cape colonists, stands four feet and a half in height. It has strong horns a foot in length, crescentic, with the points directed inwards. Its body colour is a dark purple-brown above, which changes into dusky-yellow underneath, a slate-coloured patch extending from the shoulder and the hip down to the knee and hock, at the same time that the rump is fawn-coloured. The tail is nearly two feet long. THE GNUS.[18] The GNU and the BRINDLED GNU are two of the most grotesque of creatures. With the head not unlike that of a small Cape Buffalo, it has the limbs and hind-quarters not unlike those of a pony, in proportions as well as size. The nose is broad and flattened, with a bristly muzzle. The horns are broad at the base, where they nearly meet, and after turning downward as well as forward, they again turn up abruptly in a hook-like manner. They are found abundantly in Southern Africa, where, as their flesh is worthless, they are not much hunted. They are extremely wild and fearless, and remarkably tenacious of life. Their speed is great, and they have a habit of prancing about and kicking out furiously when suspecting danger. Both species have a mane along the neck, and lengthy hair between the forelegs. In both the tail is long, covered with a mass of hair not unlike that of the Horse. [Illustration: GNU.]