Missionary Travels and Researches in South AfricaLivingstone, David
Religion
Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa
Livingstone, David
Missions -- South Africa; South Africa -- Description and travel
We discovered an entirely new species of antelope, called leche or
lechwi. It is a beautiful water-antelope of a light brownish-yellow
color. Its horns--exactly like those of the 'Aigoceros ellipsiprimnus',
the waterbuck, or tumogo, of the Bechuanas--rise from the head with
a slight bend backward, then curve forward at the points. The chest,
belly, and orbits are nearly white, the front of the legs and ankles
deep brown. From the horns, along the nape to the withers, the male has
a small mane of the same yellowish color with the rest of the skin, and
the tail has a tuft of black hair. It is never found a mile from water;
islets in marshes and rivers are its favorite haunts, and it is quite
unknown except in the central humid basin of Africa. Having a good deal
of curiosity, it presents a noble appearance as it stands gazing, with
head erect, at the approaching stranger. When it resolves to decamp, it
lowers its head, and lays its horns down to a level with the withers;
it then begins with a waddling trot, which ends in its galloping and
springing over bushes like the pallahs. It invariably runs to the water,
and crosses it by a succession of bounds, each of which appears to be
from the bottom. We thought the flesh good at first, but soon got tired
of it.
Great shoals of excellent fish come down annually with the access of
waters. The mullet ('Mugil Africanus') is the most abundant. They are
caught in nets.
The 'Glanis siluris', a large, broad-headed fish, without scales, and
barbed--called by the natives "mosala"--attains an enormous size and
fatness. They are caught so large that when a man carries one over his
shoulder the tail reaches the ground. It is a vegetable feeder, and in
many of its habits resembles the eel. Like most lophoid fishes, it has
the power of retaining a large quantity of water in a part of its great
head, so that it can leave the river, and even be buried in the mud of
dried-up pools, without being destroyed. Another fish closely resembling
this, and named 'Clarias capensis' by Dr. Smith, is widely diffused
throughout the interior, and often leaves the rivers for the sake of
feeding in pools. As these dry up, large numbers of them are entrapped
by the people. A water-snake, yellow-spotted and dark brown, is often
seen swimming along with its head above the water: it is quite harmless,
and is relished as food by the Bayeiye.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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