The book of antelopes, vol. 4 (of 4)Sclater, Philip Lutley
Science
The book of antelopes, vol. 4 (of 4)
Sclater, Philip Lutley
Antelopes
[We have taken our descriptions of this species from a series of skins,
unfortunately for the most part imperfect and without determination of
sex, that were brought from Lake Victoria by Herr Oscar Neumann, who
has kindly lent them to us. Three of these skins appear to be those
of males, while the remainder, four in number, are, judging by their
colour, females, or young of doubtful sex. One of the latter has the
hoofs very much worn, and must be regarded from this circumstance
as adult, although it is very much smaller than the skin of what we
suppose to be the adult male.]
_Hab._ Lakes and swamps of Eastern Africa near Lake Victoria.
The name of John Hanning Speke will ever go down to posterity as
that of one of the most enterprising and most successful of African
Explorers. Speke, however, was by no means only an Explorer, he
was also an ardent lover of Natural History, and during his many
expeditions in Africa never failed to bring home such specimens as his
rapid mode of travelling would allow him to carry with him. Amongst
the discoveries of his celebrated journey of 1859–63 to the Victoria
Nyanza was the present Antelope, which he met with in December 1861,
when enjoying the hospitality of King Rumanika of Karagweh. The king
presented Speke with a living example of a young male of this species,
which had been captured in the high rushes at the head of one of the
neighbouring Lakes, and also gave him the horns of an adult male
specimen. We learn further, from Speke’s ‘Journal,’ that King Rumanika
was clad in a wrapper made of the skin of this Antelope, which is said
to be much prized by the natives for its excellent quality. For the
illustration of his ‘Journal of Discovery,’ published in 1863, Speke
had a beautiful woodcut prepared by Wolf from these specimens, which,
by the kindness of Messrs. William Blackwood and Sons, we are enabled
to reproduce on the present occasion (fig. 108).
Sclater’s original description of this species, published in his report
on the Mammal-collection made during Speke’s journey, was based on
Speke’s specimens, and contained, besides a coloured illustration of
the younger animal by Wolf, a drawing of the horns and feet of the
adult, which, by the kind favour of the Zoological Society of London,
we are allowed to use again here (see fig. 109, p. 154).
[Illustration:
Fig. 108.
Speke’s Sitatunga in a Papyrus-swamp.
(Speke’s ‘Journal of Discovery,’ p. 223.)
]
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