get possession of them. Muchunka had assured me that the Briquas
(Bachapins) would not ill-treat m e; and though this account of his
countrymen should be correct, I conceived, on mature reflection, that
they ought not to be trusted with any knowledge of my affairs or
plans, which it was possible to conceal from them, lest that information
should precede me in the countries beyond them, and prepare
those nations for impeding my progress, or suggest the idea that my
waggons would be a valuable booty.
Five of my people were out hunting all day, but no game of
any kind was seen, excepting an antelope which good-fortune threw
in Juli’s way, and which luckily he shot. It was an entirely new
species, and the sequel proved it to be extremely scarce, as I never
met with it again during the whole of my travels. Juli returned immediately
for help to bring it home, and two of the Bachapins
voluntarily accompanied him, and lent their assistance. The meat
proved to be tender, and of a delicate taste. The name which they
gave it, was, Khaama; but as this is the name which the Bichuanas,
in common with the Hottentots, apply to that animal which the
Dutch colonists term Hartebeest *, it would rather seem that the new
species is not sufficiently frequent in their country to have obtained,
generally, a distinct name. But this is mere surmise; for the true
Kaama differs from it so much in the form of its horns, that the two
sorts never could be really confounded together, even by the most
unobservant savage. The species to which it has the nearest affinity,
is that which, in the Cape Colony, is more properly called Blesbok;
but it is a larger animal than either that or the hartebeest Its horns,
of which a representation, both in front and in profile, is here given,
have suggested the name of Antilope lunata f, by presenting, when
viewed in front, the form of a crescent. They were ten inches long,
* The Antilope Bubalis, of Linnaeus.
f Antilope lunata, B. Nigrescente-fùsca. Femora et tibiae fulva, illa anticè nigrès-
centia. Facies et irons, nigrescentes, lateribus purpureo-fuscis. Cornua subreclinata,
extrorsùm arcuata, apicibus introrsum versus, teretia, dimidio inferiore et ultra annulato.
Cauda brevis, pilis longis nigris jubata.
when measured in a straight line from the base to the tip ; and
their points were nearly that distance apart. Their position on the
skull was about two inches and a half asunder, and reclining a little
behind the facial line. The general color of this antelope was, when
living, a dark iron-grey, or what a painter would call a light blue-
black ; but which changed to a lighter and browner hue after the
skin had become dry. The whole of the face, as far even as the
ears, was almost black; and this mark, with the form of the horns
and greater size, constitute the only obvious difference between this
animal and the Blesbok. * The nose, and sides of the face, were of a
purplish brown ; and the ears were of the same color as the rest of the
body, excepting some white hairs which fringed their inner margin.
The legs were of a tawny or reddish brown, but of a darker, or
blackish, color in front down to the knees. The feet, below the two
spurious hoofs were blackish ; and these hoofs, of a roundish form,
and placed at equal heights. The real hoofs were black; and those
of the fore-feet rather more than four inches long. Their pointed
* The Blesbok is so called, from having a white mark on its forehead, similar to that
which, in horses, is termed, in Dutch, a bles, and by English horsemen a star, or blaze.
Late systematic writers have applied to the Blesbok the name of Pygarga (White-rump),
which, by earlier authors, was intended for the Springbok: and as this name becomes
absurd and contradictory when thus used, I have taken, the liberty of substituting in its
place, that of albifrons.