Part 41

At the dispersal of the Knowsley collection in 1851 a pair of adult Bonteboks were purchased by Mr. D. W. Mitchell, then Secretary, for the Zoological Society of London, whilst another pair, bred at Knowsley, were sold to Prince Demidoff.

In August 1871 two females of this Antelope were brought home alive by the Captain of one of the Cape mail-steamers, and purchased by the Zoological Society for £50. So far as I know, these were the last Bonteboks ever brought to Europe.

Damaliscus pygargus.]

In the National Collection, we regret to say, the Bontebok is only represented by a single stuffed specimen--a male, received in 1839 from Dr. Smuts. There are also several skulls and horns of this Antelope, but none of them are of recent date. We fear it will now be a matter of some difficulty to obtain fresh specimens of this once so abundant Antelope.

The coloured illustration of the Bontebok (Plate VIII.) and the woodcut (fig. 10) were both prepared under Sir Victor Brooke’s directions. The plate was lithographed by Smit from one of Mr. Wolf’s sketches.

January, 1895.

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES. PL. IX.

Wolf del Smit lith Hanhart imp.

The Blessbok

DAMALISCUS ALBIFRONS

Published by R. H. Porter.]

14. THE BLESSBOK.

DAMALISCUS ALBIFRONS (BURCH.).

Antilope albifrons, =Burch.= Travels, ii. p. 335 (1824); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Supp. iv. p. 413 (1844), v. p. 448 (1855).

Gazella albifrons, =Harris=, Wild Anim. S. Afr. (fol.) pl. xxi. (animal) (1840).

Damalis albifrons, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 233 (1846); =id.= P.Z. S. 1850, p. 141; =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 22, pl. xxii. fig. 1 (animal) (1850); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 129 (1852); =id.= Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 45 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 116 (1873); =Layard=, Cat. S. Afr. Mus. p. 77 (1861); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 181 (1869); =Drummond=, Large Game S. Afr. p. 425 (1875); =Nicolls & Egl.= Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 31, pl. iii. fig. 9 (head) (1892); =Jent.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 171 (1892).

Bubalis albifrons, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844, p. 210 (1846); =id.= ibid. Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 159; Reprint, p. 84 (1848); =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 195 (1853); =Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 217 (1880); =Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 68 (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 202 (1893).

Alcelaphus albifrons, =Buckley=, P. Z. S. 1876, pp. 286, 292 (distribution); =Scl.= List Anim. Z. S. (8) p. 149 (1883); =Bryden=, Kloof and Karroo, p. 295 (1889); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 335 (1891).

VERNACULAR NAMES:--Blessbok of Dutch and English colonists; Nunni of Bechuana natives (Harris); Inoni of Kaffirs (Drummond); Inoni or Inpemfu of Zulus (Rendall).

Similar to D. pygargus in nearly every respect; but the rufous ground-colour is much more widely extended, owing to the parts which are black in that animal being here scarcely darker than the rest. White blaze on face divided into two parts by a narrow line between the eyes. Posterior half of rump not prominently white, a small area only round the base of the tail slightly paler than the rest.

Skull and horns as in D. pygargus, except that the latter are of a more or less whitish colour.

Skull-measurements of a male:--basal length 11·5 inches, greatest breadth 5·1, muzzle to orbit 8·3.

Hab. Northern plains of Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, and Bechuana-land (now nearly extinct).

The Blessbok, so called from the white blaze on its forehead (“bles” in Dutch), is of exactly the same form and general appearance as the Bontebok, so that these two close allies have often been confounded together. But the present species is at once distinguishable by the absence of the broad anal white disk above the tail, which ornaments the Bontebok, and by the paler colour of the sides and flanks.

Whether Burchell, whose scientific term “albifrons” has been universally adopted for the Blessbok, really intended to affix that name to the present species or to the Bontebok, is, to say the best of it, very doubtful. As we have already stated, both the vernacular names “Blessbok” and “Bontebok” were occasionally applied by the Boers to Damaliscus pygargus, and therefore, although Burchell expressly invented his name “albifrons” for what he called the “Blessbok,” he equally intended by that term to designate the long-known Bontebok, from which he did not distinguish the Blessbok. It so happened, however, that this was done in reference to a specimen of the latter, so that his name has been rightly retained for it. As we have pointed out in the previous article, these two near allies were first correctly discriminated by Harris, and it is therefore in any case wise to abide by his decision as to their proper names, both scientific and vernacular. Indeed Harris’s lead on this difficult question has been generally followed.

In Harris’s days, 1836–37, the Blessbok inhabited “the elevated tracts to the eastward of the Colony known as the Bontebok Flats,” and was found on the great plains south of the Vaal River in “astounding herds.” Here it was that his first introduction to this splendid Antelope took place. Harris gives us a graphic account of how he lost himself in the wilderness when engaged in the pursuit of these herds and barely escaped with his life.

“The absence of fuel shortly obliged us to continue our march over a succession of salt-pans, upon which numerous great herds of Blessboks were busily licking the crystallized efflorescence. Alarmed at the approach of our cavalcade, vast troops of them were continually sweeping past against the wind, carrying their broad white noses close to the ground like a pack of harriers in full cry. Having never obtained any specimens of this species, and our stock of provisions, moreover, grievously requiring to be recruited, I mounted Breslar, my favourite Rosinante, and, little heeding whither I sped, dashed into the very thick of the Antelopes. The pine-apple hill bearing east about five miles, must, I concluded, prove a never-failing landmark to direct my return to the road, which, however faint it had become, could still readily be distinguished by a practised eye. Dealing death around, I thus continued to scour the ensanguined plain, and to use my pleasure with the herd before me, which had in the meantime increased from hundreds to thousands--reinforcements still pouring in from all directions when, crying ‘hold, enough,’ I stayed my hand from slaughter, and having divested some of the primest of their brilliant party-coloured robes, I packed the spolia on my horse, and, well satisfied with my performance, set out to rejoin the waggons. But ah! vainly was it that I sought for them. Cantering to and fro between the string of frosted salt-pans and the little hill, which, floating in the sea of mirage that environed it, seemed as though poised in the sky, again and again I strained my eyes for the road. The monotony of the landscape baffled all attempts at recognition, and my search proved utterly fruitless. Every feature of the scene was precisely the same--the table mountains were completely obscured by the midday haze--and in the constant recurrence of similar forms, I lost the points of the compass, and at last became totally bewildered.”

In fact it took Harris on this occasion nearly three days and three nights wandering before he managed to rejoin his waggons.