The heart of Africa, Vol. 1 (of 2)Schweinfurth, Georg August
Science
The heart of Africa, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Schweinfurth, Georg August
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Schweinfurth, Georg August, 1836-1925 -- Travel -- Africa, Central
it would settle itself on the ground in a pile of leaves to which its
own hue corresponded, and it might then almost be trodden upon before
it could be stirred into flight.
During the incessant excursions which I kept making round Sabby I was
able to discriminate not less than twelve distinct species of
antelopes, of which I was successful in shooting several. Frequently
met with here is the antelope (_A. oreas_) which is known as the
Elend. During the rainy months it gathers in little groups of about
half-a-dozen in the drier districts on the heights, but through the
winter it is, like all its kindred, confined to the levels by the
river-sides. Upon the steppes through which flow the brooklets in the
proximity of Sabby the leucotis antelope is the most common of all
game, and many is the herd I saw which might be reckoned at a hundred
heads. Perhaps nowhere in the whole of North-east Africa would any one
have the chance of seeing such numerous herds of antelopes collected
together as travellers in the south are accustomed to depict. Assisted
by a whole clan of Kaffirs, the Boers on the 24th of August, 1860, had
a _battue_ in Honour of the Duke of Edinburgh, of which the result was
that between 20,000 and 30,000 antelopes are said to have been
enclosed. Of the more circumscribed district of the Nile the parts
that are most prolific in game are on the north-west declivity of the
Abyssinian highlands, on the Tacazze or Seteet, in the province of
Taka: there it is not an unknown circumstance for herds to be found
which exceed a total of 400 head, but they do not correspond in the
remotest degree with those which are depicted in the published
engravings of the South African hunt. Still poorer in numbers of
individuals are the antelopes in Central Africa proper, where the
uniform diffusion of men encloses smaller wastes than those which can
alone provide large lairs for game.
[Sidenote: ZEBRA-ICHNEUMON: MUCUNA URENS.]
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