tropical ruminants and equidæ.
the camel—its paramount importance in the great tropical sandwastes—its organisation admirably adapted to its mode of life—beauty of the giraffe—its wide range of vision—pleasures of giraffe hunting—the antelopes—the springbok—the reedbok—the duiker—the atro—the gemsbok—the klippspringer—the koodoo—the gnu—the indian antelope—the nylghau—the caffrarian buffalo—the indian buffalo and the tiger—dr. livingstone’s escape from a solitary buffalo—swimming feats of the bhain—the zebra—the quagga—the douw.
there is a sea without water and refreshing breezes, without ebb and flood, without fishes and algæ! and there is a ship which safely travels from one shore to the other of that sea, a ship without sails or masts, without keel or rudder, without screw or paddle, without cabin or deck!
this ship, so swift and sure, is the dromedary, and that sea is the desert; which none but he, or what he carries, can pass.
in many respects the vast sandy deserts of africa and asia remind one of the ocean. there is the same boundless horizon, the same unstable surface, now rising, now falling with the play of the winds; the same majestic monotony, the same optical illusions, for as the thirsty mariner sees phantom palm-groves rise from the ocean, thus also the sandwaste transforms itself, before the panting caravan, into the semblance of a refreshing lake. here we see islands, verdant oases of the sea—there, oases,400 green islands of the desert; here, sand billows—there, water waves, separating widely different worlds of plants and animals; here, the ship, the camel of the ocean—there, the dromedary, the ship of the desert!
but for this invaluable animal, the desert itself would ever have remained impassable and unknown to man. on it alone depends the existence of the nomadic tribes of the orient, the whole commercial intercourse of north africa and southwest asia; and no wonder that the bedouin prizes it, along with the fruit-teeming date-palm, as the most precious gift of allah. other animals have been formed for the forest, the water, the savannah; to be the guide, the carrier, the companion, the purveyor of all man’s wants in the desert, is the camel’s destiny.
wonderfully has he been shaped for this peculiar life, formed to endure privations and fatigues under which all but he would sink. on examining the camel’s foot, it will at once be seen how well it is adapted for walking on a loose soil, as the full length of its two toes is provided with a broad, expanded, and elastic sole. thus the camel treads securely and lightly over the unstable sands, while he would either slip or sink on a muddy ground. he can support hunger longer than any other mammiferous animal, and is satisfied with the meanest food. frugal, like his lord the wiry bedouin, the grinding power of his teeth and his cartilaginous palate enable him to derive nutriment from the coarsest shrubs, from thorny mimosas and acacias, or even from the stony date-kernels, which his master throws to him after having eaten the sweet flesh in which they are imbedded.
for many days he can subsist without drinking, as the pouchlike cavities of his stomach—a peculiarity which distinguishes him from all other quadrupeds, perhaps, with the sole exception of the elephant—form a natural cistern or reservoir, whose contents can be forced upwards by muscular contraction, to meet the exigencies of the journey. it is frequently believed that this liquid remains constantly limpid and palatable, and that in cases of extreme necessity camels are slaughtered to preserve the lives of the thirsty caravan; but burckhardt never heard of the arabs resorting to this expedient, nor did he think it likely they would do so, as their own destruction must be involved401 in that of the beast on which they rode, and the lukewarm liquid thus obtained, besides affording a very poor supply, would be sufficiently nauseous to make even a tantalus turn away disgusted.
but the ‘ship of the desert’ is not only provided with water for the voyage, but also with liberal stores of fat, which are chiefly accumulated in the hump; so that this prominence, which gives it so deformed an appearance, is in reality of the highest utility—for should food be scarce, and this is almost always the case while journeying through the desert, internal absorption makes up in some measure for the deficiency, and enables the famished camel to brave for some time longer the fatigues of the naked waste. this is so well known to the bedouin that the first thing he examines about his camel when preparing for a long journey is the hump: should he find it large he knows that the animal will endure considerable fatigue even with a very moderate allowance of food, for he believes in the proverb that the ‘camel can subsist for an expedition on the fat of its own hump.’ yet all mortal endurance has its limits, and even the camel, though so well provided against hunger and thirst, must frequently succumb to the excess of his privations, and the bleached skeletons of the much-enduring animal strewed along the road mark at once the path of the caravan and the dreadful sufferings of a desert-journey.
bactrian camel.
dromedary.
while the bactrian camel with a double hump ranges from turkestan to china, the single-hump camel or dromedary, originally arabian, has spread in opposite directions towards the east indies, the mediterranean, and the niger, and is used in syria, egypt, persia, and barbary, as the commonest beast of burden. it serves the robber, but it serves also the peaceful merchant, or the pilgrim, as he wanders to mecca to perform his devotions at the prophet’s tomb. in long array, winding402 like a snake, the caravan traverses the desert. each dromedary is loaded, according to its strength, with from six hundred to a thousand pounds, and knows so well the limits of its endurance, that it suffers no overweight, and will not stir before it be removed. thus, with slow and measured pace, the caravan proceeds at the rate of ten or twelve leagues a day, often requiring many a week before attaining the end of its journey.
when we consider the deformity of the camel, we cannot doubt that its nature has suffered considerable changes from the thraldom and unceasing labours of more than one millennium. its servitude is of older date, more complete, and more irksome, than that of any other domestic animal—of older date, as it inhabits the countries which history points out to us as the cradle of mankind; more complete, as all other domestic animals still have their wild types roaming about in unrestrained liberty, while the whole camel race is doomed to slavery; more irksome, finally, as it is never kept for luxury or state like so many horses, or for the table like the ox, the pig, or the sheep, but is merely used as a beast of transport, which its master does not even give himself the trouble to attach to a cart, but whose body is loaded like a living waggon, and frequently even remains burdened during sleep.
thus, the camel bears all the marks of serfdom. large naked callosities of horny hardness cover the lower part of the breast and the joints of the legs, and although they are never wanting, yet they themselves give proof that they are not natural, but that they have been produced by an excess of misery and ill-treatment, as they are frequently found filled with a purulent matter.
the back of the camel is still more deformed by its single or double hump than its breast or legs by their callosities; and as the latter are evidently owing to the position in which the heavily burthened beast is forced to rest, it may justly be inferred that the hump also, which merely consists of an accumulation of fat, did not belong to the primitive animal, but has been produced by the pressure of its load. even its evident use as a store-house for a desert journey may have contributed to its development, as nature is ever ready to protect its creatures, and to modify their forms according to circumstances; and thus, what at first was a mere casual occurrence,403 became at length, through successive generations, the badge and heir-loom of the whole race.
even the stomach may, in the course of many centuries, have gradually provided itself with its water-cistern, since the animal, after a long and tormenting privation, whenever an opportunity of satisfying its thirst occurred, distended the coats of that organ by immoderate draughts, and thus, by degrees, gave rise to its pouch-like cavities.
the hardships of long servitude, which have thus gradually deformed the originally, perhaps, not ungraceful camel, have no doubt also soured its temper, and rendered its character as unamiable as its appearance is repulsive. ‘it is an abominably ugly necessary animal,’ says mr. russell, in a letter dated from the camp of lucknow; ‘ungainly, morose, quarrelsome, with tee-totalling propensities; unaccountably capricious in its friendships and enmities; delighting to produce with its throat, its jaws, its tongue, and its stomach, the most abominable grunts and growls. stupidly bowing to the yoke, it willingly submits to the most atrocious cruelties, and bites innocent, well-meaning persons, ready to take its part. when its leader tears its nostril, it will do no more than grunt; but ten against one it will spit at you if you offer it a piece of bread. for days it will march along, its nose close to the tail of the beast that precedes it, without ever making the least attempt to break from the chain; and yet it will snort furiously at the poor european who amicably pats its ragged hide.’
the camel seems to have been rather harshly dealt with in this description; at any rate, it may plead for its excuse that it would be too much to expect a mild and amiable temper in a toil-worn slave.
which of all four-footed animals raises its head to the most towering height? is it the colossal elephant, or the ‘ship of the desert’? no doubt the former reaches many a lofty branch with its flexible proboscis, and the eye of the long-necked camel sweeps over a vast extent of desert; but the giraffe embraces a still wider horizon, and plucks the leaves of the mokaala at a still greater height. a strange and most surprising animal, almost all neck and leg, seventeen feet high against a length of only seven from the breast to the beginning of the tail, its comparatively small and slanting body resting404 on long stilts, its diminutive head fixed at the summit of a column; and yet, in spite of these disproportions, of so elegant and pleasing an appearance, that it owes its arabic name, xirapha, to the graceful ease of its movements.
the beauty of the giraffe is enhanced by its magnificently spotted skin, and by its soft and gentle eyes, which eclipse even those of the gazelle, and, by their lateral projection, take in a wider range of the horizon than is subject to the vision of any other quadruped, so as even to be able to anticipate a threatened attack in the rear from the stealthy lion or any other foe of the desert.
giraffes and zebras.
the long tail, adorned with a bushy tuft of flowing black hair, no doubt renders it good service against many a stinging insect; and the straight horns, or rather excrescences of the frontal bone, small as they are, and muffled with skin and hair, are by no means the insignificant weapons they have been supposed to be. ‘we have seen them wielded by the males against each other with fearful and reckless force,’ says maunder, in his excellent ‘dictionary of animated nature,’ ‘and we know that they are the natural arms of the giraffe most dreaded by the keeper of the present living giraffes in the zoological gardens, because they are most commonly and suddenly put in use. the giraffe does not butt by depressing and suddenly elevating the head, like the deer, ox, or sheep, but strikes the callous obtuse extremity of the horns against405 the object of his attack with a sidelong sweep of the neck. one blow thus directed at full swing against the head of an unlucky attendant would be fatal.’
the projecting upper lip of the giraffe is remarkably flexible, and its elongated prehensile tongue, performing in miniature the part of the elephant’s proboscis, is of material assistance in browsing upon the foliage and young shoots of the prickly acacia, which constitute the animal’s chief food.
with feet terminating in a divided hoof, and a ruminant like our ox, the giraffe has four stomachs, and an enormous intestinal length of 288 feet, a formation which bears testimony to the vast and prolonged powers of digestion necessary to extract nutrition from its hard and meagre diet.
ranging throughout the wide plains of central africa from caffraria to nubia, the giraffe, though a gregarious animal, generally roams about only in small herds, averaging sixteen in number, from the young animal of nine or ten feet in height, to the dark chestnut-coloured old male, towering to a height of upwards of eighteen feet. notwithstanding the rapidity with which it strides along, the fore and hind leg on the same side moving together, instead of diagonally as in most other quadrupeds, yet a full gallop quite dissipates its strength; and the hunters, being aware of this, always try to press the giraffes at once to it, knowing that they have but a short space to run before the animals are in their power. in doing this the old sportsmen are careful not to go too close to the giraffe’s tail; ‘for this animal,’ says dr. livingstone, ‘can swing his hind foot round in a way which would leave little to choose between a kick with it and a clap from the arm of a windmill.’
captain harris, in his ‘wild sports of africa,’ gives us an animated picture of a giraffe hunt, breathing the full life and excitement of the chase.
‘many days had now elapsed since we had even seen the camelopard, and then only in small numbers, and under the most unfavourable circumstances. the blood coursed through my veins like quicksilver therefore as, on the morning of the 19th, from the back of breslar, my most trusty steed, with a firm-wooded plain before me, i counted thirty-two of these animals industriously stretching their peacock-necks to crop406 the tiny leaves which fluttered above their heads in a mimosa grove that beautified the scenery. they were within a hundred yards of me; but having previously determined to try the boarding system, i reserved my fire.
‘although i had taken the field expressly to look for giraffes, and had put four of the hottentots on horseback, all excepting piet had as usual slipped off unperceived in pursuit of a troop of koodoos. our stealthy approach was soon opposed by an ill-tempered rhinoceros, which, with her ugly calf, stood directly in the path, and the twinkling of her bright little eyes, accompanied by a restless rolling of the body, giving earnest of her intention to charge. i directed piet to salute her with a broadside, at the same moment putting spurs to my horse. at the report of the gun, and the sudden clattering of hoofs, away bounded the giraffes in grotesque confusion, clearing the ground by a succession of frog-like hops, and soon leaving me far in the rear. twice were their towering forms concealed from view by a park of trees, which we entered almost at the same instant, and twice, in emerging from the labyrinth, did i perceive them tilting over an eminence immeasurably in advance. a white turban that i wore round my hunting cap, being dragged off by a projecting bough, was instantly charged by three rhinoceroses, and, looking over my shoulder, i could see them long afterwards, fagging themselves to overtake me. in the course of five minutes the fugitives arrived at a small river, the treacherous sands of which receiving their long legs, their flight was greatly retarded; and after floundering to the opposite side, and scrambling to the top of the bank, i perceived that their race was run. patting the steaming neck of my good steed, i urged him again to his utmost, and instantly found myself by the side of the herd. the stately bull being readily distinguishable from the rest by his dark chestnut robe and superior stature, i applied the muzzle of my rifle behind his dappled shoulder with the right hand, and drew both triggers; but he still continued to shuffle along, and being afraid of losing him, should i dismount, among the extensive mimosa groves with which the landscape was now obscured, i sat in my saddle, loading and firing behind the elbow, and then, placing myself across his path, until the tears trickling from his full brilliant eye, his lofty frame began to totter, and at the seventeenth discharge from the deadly-grooved407 bore, like a falling minaret bowing his graceful head from the skies, his proud form was prostrate in the dust. never shall i forget the tingling excitement of that moment. at last then, the summit of my hunting ambition was actually attained, and the towering giraffe laid low. tossing my turbanless cap into the air, alone in the wild wood, i hurraed with bursting exultation, and, unsaddling my steed, sank exhausted beside the noble prize i had won.’
in a similar strain of triumph gordon cumming describes his first giraffe hunt: ‘galloping round a thick bushy tree under cover of which i had ridden, i suddenly beheld a sight the most astounding that a sportsman’s eye can encounter. before me stood a troop of ten colossal giraffes, the majority of which were from seventeen to eighteen feet high. on beholding me they at once made off, twisting their long tails over their backs, making a loud switching noise with them, and cantering along at an easy pace, which, however, obliged my horse to put his best foot foremost to keep up with them. the sensations which i felt on this occasion were different from anything that i had before experienced during a long sporting career. my senses were so absorbed by the wondrous and beautiful sight before me, that i rode along like one entranced. at every stride i gained upon the giraffes, and after a short burst at a swinging gallop, i was in the middle of them, and turned the finest cow out of the herd. on finding herself driven from her comrades and hotly pursued, she increased her pace and cantered along with tremendous strides, clearing an amazing extent of ground at every bound, while her neck and breast coming in contact with the dead old branches of the trees were continually strewing them in my path. in a few minutes i was riding within five yards of her stern, and firing at the gallop i sent a bullet into her back. increasing my pace, i next rode alongside, and placing the muzzle of my rifle within a few feet of her, i fired my second shot behind the shoulder; the ball, however, seemed to have little effect. once more i brought her to a stand, and dismounted from my horse. there we stood together alone in the wild wood. i gazed in wonder at her extreme beauty, while her soft dark eye, with its silky fringe, looked down imploringly at me, and i really felt a pang of sorrow in this moment of triumph for the blood i was shedding.408 pointing my rifle towards the skies, i sent a bullet through her neck. on receiving it she reared high on her hind legs and fell backwards with a heavy crash making the earth shake around her. a thick stream of dark blood spouted out from the wound, her colossal limbs quivered for a moment and she expired. no pen nor words can convey to a sportsman what it is to ride in the midst of a troop of gigantic giraffes—it must be experienced to be understood. they emitted a powerful perfume, which in the chase came hot in my face, reminding me of the smell of a hive of heather honey in september.’
after man, the giraffe’s chief enemy is the lion, who often waits for it in the thick brakes on the margin of the rivers or pools, and darts upon it with a murderous spring while it is slaking its thirst. andersson once saw five lions, two of whom were in the act of pulling down a splendid giraffe, while the other three were watching close at hand the issue of the deadly strife; and captain harris relates that, while he was encamped on the banks of a small stream, a camelopard was killed by a lion whilst in the act of drinking, at no great distance from the waggons. it was a noisy affair; but an inspection of the scene on which it occurred proved that the giant strength of the victim had been paralysed in an instant.
sometimes the giraffe saves itself from the attacks of its arch-enemy by a timely flight; but when hemmed in, it offers a desperate resistance, and in spite of its naturally gentle and peaceable disposition, gives such desperate kicks with its forefeet as to keep its antagonist at a respectful distance, and finally to compel him to retreat.
there are many analogies between the giraffe and the ostrich; both long-legged, long-necked, fit for cropping the tall mimosas, or scouring rapidly the plain; both, finally, defending themselves by striking their feet forwards, the one against the jackal or hyæna, the other against the assaults of the formidable lion.
the great peculiarity of the zoology of south africa is the predominance of antelopes. here no species of deer, roe, stag, or elk greets the eyes of the sportsman: their place in nature is taken by these hollow-horned ruminants, which have been created in an unusual number and variety of specific forms, constituting a series that fills up the wide hiatus between the goat and the ox. as the traveller advances from the cape409 towards the sahara, he constantly falls in with new antelopes, and many unknown to the naturalist no doubt still roam in the undiscovered interior of the continent.
with the exception of the ox or cow-like species, such as the eland, whose clumsier proportions and heavier gait remind one of our domestic cattle, the antelopes generally resemble the deer tribe by their elegant forms, their restless and timid disposition, and their proverbial swiftness. their horns, whatever shape they assume, are round and annulated; in some species straight, in others curved and spiral; in some the females have no horns, in others they are common to both sexes. they all possess a most delicate sense of smell, and their eyes are proverbially bright and beaming. their skin generally emits a delicious odour of the grass and wild herbs on which they feed, and some have between their hoofs a gland from which issues a secretion of an agreeable perfume.
africa appears to be their great nursery, but many kinds are natives of asia, while europe has but two species,—the well-known chamois of the alps and the saiga of the russian steppes,—and the new world only one.
springbok.
few of the numerous african antelopes are more entitled to our notice than the graceful springbok (a. enchora), which has earned its name from the surprising and almost perpendicular leaps it makes when started. it bounds to the height of ten or twelve feet with the elasticity of an india-rubber ball, clearing at each spring from twelve to fifteen feet of ground, without apparently the slightest exertion. in performing this astonishing leap it appears for an instant as if suspended in the air, when down come all four feet again together, and striking the plain, away it soars again, as if about to take flight.
from the vast wilds in the interior of south africa, when a prolonged drought has exhausted the last pools or watercourses, the springboks migrate in such incredible multitudes towards the fertile cultivated districts, that they have been well compared to the swarms of locusts. like them, they consume every410 green thing in their course, and ruin in a single night the fruits of the farmer’s toil. the course they adopt is generally such as to bring them back to their own country by a route different from that by which they set out, but this march is not effected with impunity. the lion, the hyæna, the panther, and, above all, man, make great havoc in their ranks; many also perish from want of food, the country to which they have migrated being unable to support them, and comparatively few return to their native haunts.
while the springbok prefers the level plains with short grass, where it may be able to watch the approach of an enemy, the reedbok (eleotragos arundinaceus); selects for its favourite haunts the low grounds covered with a dense growth of reeds. it generally remains concealed until the hunter approaches, then suddenly starts up and flies to a short distance, when it stops and turns round to have a look at its pursuer. at the same time it utters a peculiar sneezing cry, evidently meant as a warning signal to its comrades, but which frequently proves the cause of its own destruction by attracting the enemy’s attention.
the dense bush-forests of africa harbour several kinds of antelopes, among others the duiker (cephalophus mergens), who at the approach of man plunges or dives, as it were, into the thicket, and glides so quietly through the bushes that he seems to have vanished, and the neat little atro or ben israel of abyssinia (cephalophus hemprichii), which even the sharpest eye is scarce able to detect in its flight, so nearly does its colour resemble that of the dim underwood through which it makes its escape. in thickets which would be utterly impassable by the larger big-horned antelopes, the atro finds an admirable refuge, particularly in the green forest borders of the watercourses, where it enjoys the shade under a thick canopy of leaves.
the gemsbok (a. oryx) is supposed to have given rise to the fable of the unicorn, from its long straight horns when seen in profile, so exactly covering one another as to give it the appearance of having but one. this robust and noble antelope, which when adult measures little less than four feet in height at the shoulder, possesses the erect mane, long sweeping black tail, and general appearance of the horse, with the head and411 hoofs of an antelope. it thrives and attains a high condition in barren regions, where it might be imagined that a locust would not find subsistence, and is remarkably independent of water. owing to the even nature of the ground which it frequents, its shy and suspicious disposition, and the extreme distance from water to which it must be followed, it is never stalked or drawn to an ambush like other antelopes, but is hunted down by a long tail-on-end chase, a feat which only the fleetest coursers are able to perform.
among the mountain antelopes who, like the goat, love to browse among the rocks, the klippspringer (oreotragus saltatrix) is remarkable for the elastic agility with which he bounds along from crag to crag; the deep chasm, the yawning precipice, have no terrors for this sure-footed, sharp-eyed animal, which in its rapid flight over the serrated ridge bids defiance to the hunter’s pursuit.
the koodoo (a. strepsiceros) likewise prefers the craggy districts to the plains, and loves to browse on hills covered with sharp angular rocks, but with abundance of excellent grass and fine green bushes. when seen on the brow of any eminence, with its graceful form and fine spiral horns projected against the dark blue sky, it is decidedly one of the grandest-looking antelopes in the world.
koodoo.
gnu.
the fantastic wildebeest, or gnu, of which there are two species, the black and the brindled, has the head and horns of the buffalo, and the mane and tail of a horse, supported on agile antelopine legs. shy and suspicious at the night season, when their carnivorous enemies are abroad, the bearing of the412 gnus is bold in broad daylight, when roaming over their native plains. wheeling about in endless circles, and performing the most extraordinary variety of intricate evolutions, the shaggy herds of these fierce-looking animals are for ever capering and gambolling round the hunter on every side. singly, and in small troops of four or five individuals, the old bull wildebeests may be seen stationed at intervals throughout the plains, standing motionless during a whole forenoon coolly watching with a philosophic eye the movements of the other game, eternally uttering a loud snorting noise, and also a short sharp cry which is peculiar to them. when the hunter approaches these old bulls they commence whisking their long white tails in a most eccentric manner, then springing suddenly into the air, they begin prancing and capering, and pursue each other in circles at their utmost speed. when wounded they will sometimes turn upon the hunter and pursue him in turn, darting forwards on their assailant with amazing force and impetuosity, so that it requires the utmost coolness on his part to evade their attack.
in india the antilopa cervicapra is consecrated to the moon, and takes the place of the capricorn among the signs of the zodiac. numberless poems praise the beauty of this graceful animal, which resembles our fallow deer, but is somewhat smaller, and of a far more elegant shape. such is its fleetness and activity that it often vaults over nets ten feet high, and when pursued will pass over as many yards at a single bound.
nylghau.
the native haunts of the nylghau (a. picta) are the dense forests of india. in the days of aurungzebe, these large and fine antelopes abounded between delhi and lahore, where they were frequently chased by that mighty monarch, his army of hunters inclosing them within a limited space by means of nets. the great mogul and his omrahs, attended by their huntsmen, then entered and, somewhat after the manner of a modern battue, dispatched them with their arrows and spears.
the wild caffrarian buffalo (bubalus caffer), the strongest413 and most ferocious of the ruminant race, roams in small herds over the woody districts of south and central africa, where it is more feared by the natives than the lion and rhinoceros. combining malice with brutality, it not seldom remains concealed behind a tree, till the innocent victim of its rage approaches, when, horribly bellowing, it rushes forth and attacks him with its broad-based, sharp-pointed horns. not satisfied with goring him to death, it stamps and tears him again and again, and after having left the spot, will even return to vent once more its blind fury on the mangled corpse.
its ponderous strength, deadly weapons, and ungovernable fury make it more than a match for the king of animals himself, who never ventures to attack a full-grown buffalo, as one toss from its horns would kill the strongest lion that ever breathed.
in india, where the wild colossal arnee (bubalus arnee), remarkable for its enormous horns, inhabits the highlands, even the tame ordinary buffaloes feel their superiority to the large felidæ, for they have been seen to chase a tiger up the hills, bellowing as if they enjoyed the sport. the indian herdsman, riding on a buffalo of their herd, are therefore not in the least afraid of entering the jungles infested by tigers. colonel rice once saw a troop of buffaloes, excited by the blood of a tiger he had wounded, throw themselves furiously into the thicket where the beast had sought refuge, beat about the bushes and tear up the ground with their horns.
the solitary buffaloes, or such as have been expelled from the herd by stronger competitors for female favour, are particularly dangerous as they are apt to wreak their ill humour on whatever falls in their way. dr livingstone, among others, made the experience that to meet one of these rogue buffaloes is about as bad as to face a hungry lion or an ill-disposed rhinoceros. ‘as i walked slowly,’ says the illustrious traveller, ‘on an extensive plain, i observed that a solitary buffalo, disturbed by others of my own party, was coming to me at a gallop. i glanced around, but the only tree on the plain was a hundred yards off, and there was no escape elsewhere. i therefore cocked my rifle, with the intention of giving him a steady shot in the forehead when he should come within three or four yards of me. the thought flashed across my mind, “what if your gun misses fire?” i placed it to my shoulder as he came on at full speed,414 and that is tremendous, though generally he is a lumbering-looking animal in his paces. a small bush and bunch of grass fifteen yards off, made him swerve a little and exposed his shoulder. i just heard the ball crack there, and i fell flat on my face. the pain must have made him renounce his purpose, for he bounded close past me on to the water, where he was found dead.’
the buffaloes are generally fond of marshes or submerged river banks, where they love to wallow in the mud, or to remain plunged up to the muzzle in water. they are admirable swimmers, particularly the bhain (bubalus bhain), a species inhabiting the sandy banks of the ganges. abandoning themselves to the current, these semi-aquatic ruminants often drift down the river in large herds, and are said to plunge from time to time in order to detach with their horns the water-plants growing at the bottom, which they then leisurely devour as they slowly float along.
as if to make up for the hideous deformity of the rhinoceros and hippopotamus, the african wilds exclusively give birth to the beautifully striped zebras, the most gorgeously attired members of the equine race.
the isabelle-coloured quagga, irregularly banded and marked with dark brown stripes, which, stronger on the head and neck, gradually become fainter, until lost behind the shoulders, has its high crest surmounted by a standing mane, banded alternately brown and white. it used formerly to be found in great numbers within the limits of the cape colony, and still roams in large numbers in the open plain farther to the north, where it may often be seen herding together with gnus and springboks.
quagga.
thus in the desert of the meritsane, major harris, after crossing a park of magnificent camelthorn trees, soon perceived large herds of quaggas and brindled gnus, which continued to join each other, until the whole plain seemed alive. the clatter of their hoofs was perfectly astounding, and could be compared to nothing but to the din of a tremendous charge of cavalry, or the rushing of a mighty tempest. the accumulated415 numbers could not be estimated at less than 15,000, a great extent of country being actually chequered black and white with their congregated masses.
the douw, or burchell’s zebra, differs little from the common quagga in point of shape or size; but while the latter is faintly striped only on the head and neck, the former is adorned over every part of the body with broad black bands, beautifully contrasting with a pale yellow ground.
major harris, who had so many opportunities of seeing this fine species in a state of nature, remarks that—‘beautifully clad by the hand of nature, possessing much of the graceful symmetry of the horse, with great bones and muscular power, united to easy and stylish action, thus combining comeliness of figure with solidity of form, this species, if subjugated and domesticated, would assuredly make the best pony in the world. although it admits of being tamed to a certain extent with the greatest facility—a half-domesticated specimen, with a jockey on its brindled back, being occasionally exposed in cape town for sale—it has hitherto contrived to evade the yoke of servitude. the senses of sight, hearing, and smell are extremely delicate. the slightest noise or motion, no less than the appearance of any object that is unfamiliar, at once rivets their gaze, and causes them to stop and listen with the utmost attention; any taint in the air equally attracting their olfactory organs.
‘instinct having taught these beautiful animals that in union consists their strength, they combine in a compact body when menaced by an attack, either from man or beast; and, if overtaken by the foe, they unite for mutual defence, with their heads together in a close circular band presenting their heels to the enemy, and dealing out kicks in equal force and abundance. beset on all sides, or partially crippled, they rear on their hind legs, fly at their adversary with jaws distended, and use both teeth and heels with the greatest freedom.’
zebra.
whilst the douw and the quagga roam over the plains, the zebra inhabits mountainous regions only. the beauty of its light symmetrical form is enhanced by the narrow black416 bands with which the whole of the white-coloured body is covered.
travellers through the african wilds have sometimes been startled by piteous wailings, resembling the faint gasps and stifled groanings of a drowning man. on approaching the spot where they supposed some ravenous beast was lacerating an unfortunate native, they were surprised to find a zebra in its last agonies; and well may the dying moans of the animal be sorrowful, when we consider that its usual neighings, when heard from a distance, are of a very melancholy sound.
captain harris tells us that it seeks the wildest and most sequestered spots, so that it is extremely difficult of approach, not only from its watchful habits and very great agility of foot, but also from the inaccessible nature of its abode. the herds graze on the steep hill-side, with a sentinel posted on some adjacent crag, ready to sound the alarm in case of any suspicious approach to their feeding quarters, and no sooner is the alarm given than away they scamper, with pricked ears and whisking their tails aloft, to places where few, if any, would venture to pursue them.
