CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
BLESBOKS AND BONTEBOKS.
Next morning our party inspanned and treked over the desert plain in anorth-easterly direction. They were two days in crossing it, and theiroxen suffered much from thirst, as during the two days they did nottaste water. For themselves they had water enough. Part of thecontents of each wagon was a good water-cask, that held eighteengallons; and these, of course, they had filled before leaving thespring. One of these casks they divided among their horses, allowingthem a little over two gallons apiece; but that was nothing for twodays' march over such a country. Even the yagers themselves required asmuch. This statement would not surprise you, if you had ever travelledin a tropical clime and over an arid waterless plain under a hot glaringsun. There thirst is provoked in a short while, and water will quenchit only for a few minutes at a time. The appetite constantly returns,and calls for copious draughts; so that a traveller will often consumenot glasses, but gallons, of water, in a single day!
Having crossed the desert plain, the hunters now entered upon a countrythat differed entirely from that they had left behind.
They had arrived in a country of vast extent, upon which stood hills ofstrange and varied forms. Some were of a rounded, hemispherical shape;others were cones; others had flat-table tops; and still others piercedthe sky with sharp needle-like pinnacles. These hills were of varioussizes--some approaching the dimension of mountains; but most of themrose directly from the plains, without any _piedmont_ or "foothills"intervening between the level surface and their sloping or precipitoussides. The country bore a very strong resemblance to the plateaux thatlie among the Cordilleras of the Andes; and the geological formation ofthis part of Africa is very similar to the table-lands of Mexico.
Many of the mountains of conical and pyramid form stood isolated uponthe plain, some of them bare of vegetation from base to summit. Others,again, carried a dark mantle of forest, that covered only their lowerhalf, above which rose bare peaks of white quartz that under the sunglittered like snow.
The plains between were some of them of vast extent--so wide that attimes the mountains that bordered them could be but dimly seen. Butthere were plains of every size and form. Their surface was coveredwith a species of grass quite different from that of the region ourhunters had hitherto been passing over. It formed a short sward like ameadow lately mown, or a well-browsed pasture-ground, for such inreality it was--well-browsed and closely cropped, and trodden to a hardturf, by the countless herds of wild ruminant animals, of which it wasthe favourite range. Unlike the long flowing sweet grass upon theplains south of the Orange River, these were covered with a short crispcurly herbage of saltish taste; and in many spots an effervescence ofthat mineral covered the ground, whitening the blades of grass like ahoar-frost. Salt deposits, or salt-pans as they are termed, were alsocommon, some of them extending for miles over the plain.
The yagers had reached a peculiar country, indeed. They had arrived inthe "zuur-veldt," the country of the sour grass--the favourite home ofthe _blesbok_ and _bontebok_.
What are these?
They are two antelopes, whose gracefulness of form, swiftness of foot,but, above all, the lively and striking colour of their bodies, haverendered remarkable.
They belong to the genus _Gazella_, but in many of their habits theydiffer considerably from the gazelles, though differing so slightly fromeach other that by both travellers and naturalists they have beenregarded identical.
This is not so. They are distinct species, though inhabiting the samecountry, and following the same mode of life. The blesbok (_Gazellaalbifrons_) is neither so large nor so brilliantly marked as thebontebok, (_Gazella pygarga_). His horns are of a light colour, nearlywhite, while those of the bontebok are black. In the colour of the legsthere is also a marked difference. The legs of the bontebok are whitefrom the knee down, while those of his congener are only white on theinsides--the outsides being brown.
The bontebok is not only one of the loveliest antelopes in Africa, butone of the swiftest. Indeed, there are those who hold that he is _theswiftest_. In size he equals the European stag, and his form is lightand graceful. His horns are fifteen inches in length, black, robust atthe base, semi-annulated and diverging. They rise erect from the top ofhis head, bending slightly backward, and then forward at the tips.
But it is the beautiful colouring of his skin which is the principalcharacteristic of this antelope. In this respect both he and theblesbok bear some resemblance to the antelopes of the _acronotine_group--the hartebeest and sassabye.
The colours of the bontebok are purple violet and brown of every shade--not mingling together, but marking the body as if laid on by the brushof a sign-painter. Hence the name "bontebok," or "painted buck," asgiven by the Dutch colonists to this species. First, the neck and headare of a deep brown, with a tinge of the colour of arterial blood.Between the horns a white stripe commences, and after reaching the lineof the eyes widens out so as to cover the face to the very muzzle. Thismark, or "blaze," is common to both the species, and to one of them hasgiven the trivial name "blesbok," (blaze-buck.)
The back is of a blue lilac colour, as if glazed; and this extends alongthe sides, so as to remind one of a saddle. Bordering this, and runningalong the flanks, is a broad band of deep purple brown. The belly andinsides of the thighs are of pure white colour; the legs are white fromthe knees down, and there is a large white patch on the croup. The tailreaches to the hocks, and is tufted with black hair. Such is the colourof the bontebok, and that of the blesbok differs from it only in thepoints already mentioned, and in its colours being somewhat less markedand brilliant. Both are beautiful creatures, and their skins are muchprized by the native savages for making the "kaross,"--a garment thatserves them both as a cloak by day and a bed and blankets at night.
The habits of both species are quite similar. They dwell upon theplains of the "zuur-veldt," congregating in vast herds of many thousandsthat cover the ground with their purple masses.
In this respect they resemble the springboks and other gazelles; butthey have habits peculiar to themselves. The springboks, when alarmed,take to flight and scatter off in any direction, whereas the bonteboksand blesboks invariably run against the wind, bearing their noses closealong the ground, like hounds upon a trail!
They are fleeter than springboks, and also more shy and wary, as thoughthey knew that their spoils are more valuable to the hunter, andtherefore required greater skill and speed to preserve them.
Both species were once common in what are now the settled districts ofSouth Africa, their range extending to the Cape itself. That is nowrestricted to the "zuur-veldt" districts, north of the Great OrangeRiver.
A few bonteboks are still found within the colonial borders in thedistrict of Swellendam; but their existence there is accounted for by anact of the Government, which places a fine of six hundred rix-dollarsupon any one who may destroy them without licence.
Our young yagers had now arrived in the land of the blesbok andbontebok.