Part 81 (2/2)

The leader having clirass and rushes strewed upon the path, uttered a snorting bark, and seemed half inclined to wheel round But just at that moment boomed the loud detonation of the roer; and, then, like lesser echoes, the reports of the sht and left, while Swartboy shouted at the top pitch of his voice, froas that they ell-nigh surrounded by strange enemies But one course appeared open to theht, the whole drove dashed up the bank, and crowded on towards the pit

Then was heard a confused noise--the cracking of the poles--the tra together, and , as the creatures hurried forward in affright Soh in the air, as if to overleap the pit Others poised the round, ran back into the lake Soh the bushes, and escaped in that way; but the great body of the drove cah the water, h which they had coht

The boys thought they had all escaped; but Von Bloom, from his more elevated position in the tree, could perceive the snouts of several protruding above the edge of the pit

On arriving at the spot, to their great satisfaction the hunters discovered no less than eight full-grown quaggas in the trap--just twice the number required to mount the party

In less than teeks froas were broken to the saddle, and perfectly obedient to the bit Of course there was a good deal of kicking, and plunging, and flinging, and ly falls, before it came to this; but both the Bushman Swartboy and the Bush-boy Hendrik were expert in the _ree of docility

Upon the very first occasion when these animals were used in the hunt of the elephant, they rendered the very service expected of the the first shot; but the hunters on ”quagga-back” were enabled to keep hiht, and follow rapidly upon his heels As soon as the elephant discovered that, run as he would, his pursuers had the power of overtaking hi the shot after shot, until a e body to the earth

Von Bloonant star was once n He would yet be rich A few years, would enable him to build up his fortune--to construct a pyramid of ivory!

CHAPTER xxxVIII

DRIVING IN THE ELAND

Of all the family Hendrik was the hunter _par excellence_ It was he who habitually stored the larder; and upon days when they were not engaged in the chase of the elephant, Hendrik would be abroad alone in pursuit of antelopes, and other creatures, that furnished their usual subsistence Hendrik kept the table well supplied

Antelopes are the principal game of South Africa--for Africa is the country of the antelope above all others You may be surprised to hear that there are seventy different species of antelopes over all the earth--that more than fifty of these are African, and that thirty at least belong to South Africa--that is, the portion of the continent lying between the Cape of Good Hope and the Tropic of Capricorn

It would require the space of a whole book, therefore, to give a fair account--a raph--of the antelopes alone; and I cannot afford that space here At present I can only say that Africa is the great antelope country, although many fine species exist also in Asia--that in A-horn, hich you are already well acquainted--and that in Europe there are two, though one of these, the well-known ”chaoat as antelope

I shall farther remark, that the seventy species of animals, by naturalists classed as antelopes, differ widely froe, habits; in short, in so many respects, that their classification under the name of Antelope is very arbitrary indeed Sooat tribe; others are more like deer; some resemble oxen; others are closely allied to the buffalo; while a few species possess eneral thing, however, they are more like to deer than any other animals; and many species of them are, in common parlance, called deer

Indeed, many antelopes are more like to certain species of deer than to others of their own kind The chief distinction noted between them and the deer is, that the antelopes have horny horns, that are persistent or permanent, while those of the deer are osseous or bony, and are annually cast

Like the deer the different species of antelopes possess very different habits Some frequent the wide open plains; some the deep forest; some wander by the shady banks of streams; while others love to dwell upon the rocky steep, or the dry ravines of the oat-like, prefer the leaves and tender twigs of trees In fact, so different are these creatures in habits, that whatever be the natural character of a district of country, it will be found the favourite home of one or more species Even the very desert has its antelopes, that prefer the parched and waterless plain to the most fertile and verdant valley

Of all antelopes the ”eland,” or ”caana” is the largest Itthus equal in height to a very large horse A large eland weighs one thousand pounds It is a heavily formed aniallop up to one without effort Its general proportions are not unlike those of a coht and rise vertically frohtly froth, and e that passes spirally around theer than those of the male

The eyes of the eland, like those of , without any expression of fierceness; and the ani, is of the ht only when driven to desperation

The general colour of this antelope is dun, with a rufous tinge

So hue

The eland is one of those antelopes that appear to be independent of water It isor stream; and it even seereater security it finds there--though it is also a denizen of the fertile and wooded districts It is gregarious, the sexes herding separately, and in groups of from ten to a hundred individuals