Part 45

In 1827 Major Charles Hamilton-Smith, F.R.S., in Griffith’s edition of Cuvier’s ‘Animal Kingdom,’ besides recognizing C. gnu and C. taurina, added a presumed third species of the genus, which he based on a specimen then exhibited in the “Museum of the Missionary Society of London.” It is quite clear, however, from the description and figure that Hamilton-Smith’s C. gorgon is identical with Burchell’s previously described Antilope taurina, and that the latter term should take precedence, although many naturalists have preferred to use Hamilton-Smith’s name for this species.

Adult Brindled Gnu.

(Roy. Nat. Hist. vol. ii. p. 314.)]

In 1836 and 1837 the celebrated artist and sportsman, Cornwallis Harris, met with the Brindled Gnu on the plains of what is now the Orange Free State in “countless numbers.” “Instantly after crossing the Orange River,” he tells us, “the Kokoon or Brindled Gnu usurps the place of the White-tailed species, and, although herds of the former may actually be seen grazing on the northern bank, not a single individual has ever been known to pass the barrier.... By the Dutch Boers the present species is termed the Bastaard or Blauw Wilde Beest: throughout the country of the Bechuanas, as far as the Tropic, it is recognized as the Kokoon, and the Hottentot tribes designate it the Kaop or Baas, both of which terms, signifying master, refer, in all probability, to its bold and terrific bearing. When excited by the appearance of any suspicious object, or aroused by any unusual noise, the Kokoon is wont to appear much more grim and ferocious than it actually proves--not unfrequently approaching with an air of defiance, as if resolved to do battle with the hunter, but decamping on the first exhibition of hostility on his part. On being pursued, the herd bring their aquiline noses low between their knees, and flourishing their streaming black tails, tear away in long regular files at a furious gallop, wheeling curiously about at a distance of two or three hundred yards, advancing boldly towards the danger, tossing their shaggy heads in a threatening manner--presently making a sudden stop, presenting an impenetrable front of horns, and staring wildly at the object of their mistrust.... When engaged in grazing they have an extremely dull and clumsy appearance, and at a little distance might often be mistaken for wild buffaloes; but their manner is sportive--at one moment standing to gaze at nothing, and at the next scampering over the plain without any apparent object in view, making grotesque curvets and plunges, with their preposterous Bonassus-looking heads held down between the fore legs.”

In his valuable ‘Illustrations of South-African Zoology,’ Sir Andrew Smith gives an excellent account of this species (published in August 1842), accompanied by an indifferent figure of the female and young. Sir Andrew justly observes that this and the Common Gnu are two of the most interesting and extraordinary quadrupeds which occur in South Africa. “When either the one or other of those animals, especially under excitement, stands in front of an observer, with the head and anterior parts of the body only distinctly visible, the idea of its strong resemblance to a small ox immediately arises. When, again, its body and posterior parts are the portions most conspicuously in view, the likeness to a horse is remarkable; but when its limbs only are taken in review, it presents a strong similarity to the more typical Antelopes.”

At the time when these observations were made both the Gnus, according to Sir Andrew Smith, inhabited, in enormous multitudes, the grassy plains to the northward of the Vaal River, and after the fall of the summer rains were in the habit of advancing simultaneously in large herds as far as the southern branches of the Orange River. But on reaching the latter stream singularly enough the Brindled Gnu ceased to advance, and the Common Gnu alone passed into the Cape Colony. The appearance of the latter to the south of the Orange River was the signal for hunters of all denominations to prepare for the chase, and though the yearly slaughter was very great the herds in those days never ceased to renew their periodical visitations. Strongly expressed as are the views of both Andrew Smith and Harris as to the line of demarcation between the two species of Gnu, there seems to be some doubt as to their correctness. An excellent recent authority, Mr. H. A. Bryden (‘Kloof and Karroo’), tells us that the Brindled Gnu was in former days certainly a “denizen, albeit a rare one, south of the Orange River,” and gives us Gordon-Cumming as an authority. Gordon-Cumming asserts (‘Hunter’s Life in South Africa,’ p. 148) that he met with the Brindled Gnu in the Karroo country west of Colesberg, in what is now the Hopetown division of the Cape Colony. But Mr. Bryden admits that it has now for many years been extinct in that district. In the Transvaal, also, he tells us, the Boers have, of late years, played sad havoc with this singular Antelope, not long ago found in countless thousands on the plains of that Republic.

Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington, in their ‘Sportsman in South Africa,’ tell us the same story. Writing in 1892, they state that, except in some of the northern districts along the Crocodile River, the Brindled Gnu is now extremely scarce in the Transvaal, and practically extinct in the Orange Free State. But it is still met with in Bechuanaland, and is fairly plentiful along the edges of the Great Kalahari Desert. “In the Lake Ngami district, on both banks of the Botletle River, and from thence right up to the Chobe and Zambesi, it is quite common in suitable localities, and, at the present time, large troops may be seen on the Ma-Chara-Chara and Mababe Flats, and in the country surrounding the great salt-pans of Makari-Kari, through which the main road passes to the Victoria Falls.”

So much for the occurrence of this species in the South and South-west of Africa, past and present. But we must now trace its distribution to the north; for it is an extraordinary fact that the Brindled Gnu, instead of being confined, like its sister species, to a small part of South Africa, extends up along the eastern coast certainly as far as Kilimanjaro, and perhaps even into Sennaar, where reports of the occurrence of a Gnu-like Antelope were made to Heuglin. It is, however, possible that some of these northern Gnus may belong to the White-maned species, which we shall presently mention.

Beginning from the Limpopo, Mr. Selous tells us that the Brindled Gnu is found all over this portion of South-eastern Africa up to the Zambesi, in districts suitable to its habits--that is, “in open downs devoid of bush and in open glades in the forest,” but not in hilly countries. Peters and Sir John Kirk both enroll it among the mammals of Zambesia, the latter author stating that at the time of his visit it was “very abundant in considerable herds in the Batoka country, also near Lake Shirwa, and at Shupanga on the Zambesi.” As to its present existence in the Shiré Highlands, Mr. B. L. Sclater, R.E., sends us the following notes.--“In November 1891, while travelling between Zomba and Milanji, I was shooting in the marshes on the west bank of the Tochila. I saw a Gnu and tried to stalk it, but it was right in the open and I could not get near it. My head man, a Swahili, said it was a Gnu (Nyumbo), and he was well acquainted with that animal. Again, in 1892, at Midima, to the south of the Tochila, I obtained a tail of a Gnu from a native, who told me that formerly there was a large herd of them on these plains, but that he thought they were now all killed. I believe that Mr. Sharpe has met with the Gnu on the plains to the west of the Upper Shiré, between Matope and the sources of the Lesungwi River.”

As regards the more northern portion of the British Central African Protectorate, Mr. Crawshay tells us that the Gnu is apparently unknown to the natives round the northern half of Lake Nyasa, and is not met with anywhere in the immediate neighbourhood of the Lake, though found a little to the south-east, and also, he believes, to the south-west.

In 1864 Speke met with the Brindled Gnu in large herds in Khutu, on the western borders of Uzaramo, close to the Kingani River, where it inhabits the “park-like lands adjoining the stream.”

Later on Sir John Kirk obtained heads of it in the same district, and has favoured us with the following notes on its occurrence in this part of German East Africa:--

“As regards the Brindled Gnu in East Africa, I may say that, although familiar with this animal on the Upper Zambezi near the Victoria Falls, where they were common in 1860, I have only since shot them in Ukami, to the west of Dar-es-salam, and on the River Wami inland from Bagomoyo. In the plains and on the rolling ground between the River Rufiji and the River Wami they used to be common. I have shot them within ten miles of the coast, and I believe that they extend back to the foot of the mountains.

“As I was not then acquainted with the species or variety lately found by Jackson, I cannot from memory express any opinion as to the identity of these animals, further than that they seemed to me identical with the Brindled Gnus I had killed years previously near the Victoria Falls and Sesheke on the Upper Zambezi.

“In East Africa, near the coast, in the places above-named where I found this Antelope, it never occurs in numbers, but is often associated as an attendant on other game, especially upon Lichtenstein’s Hartebeest. It often causes annoyance to the sportsman by giving warning of his approach to the other Antelopes.

“I believe this Gnu suffered from the recent cattle-disease which during the last four years has decimated the Buffalo, the Giraffe, the Eland, and many other kinds of game, not affecting, however, the Rhinoceros, and certain other animals. This disease seems to have killed off different classes of animals in different localities, attacking universally, wherever it appeared, the cattle of the natives.

“Thousands of hides of cattle that have died of this plague have been freely imported into Europe and America; the disease has travelled from Somali-land to Nyasa-land, and yet we do not know its nature. Some say it is anthrax, others that it is pleuro-pneumonia; but whether it is a disease that can be communicated by the dried hides of the diseased animals has not been ascertained. In Somali-land and Masai-land it has worked itself out, and it may stop short of the Cape Colony and not cross the Zambezi; but in the meantime it has decimated the African Game, and left its mark by changing the whole life of the pastoral peoples who depended on their cattle alone.”

In British East Africa the Brindled Gnu (here called by the Swahilis “Nyumbo”) is well-known to the sportsmen who have visited the happy hunting-grounds of Kilimanjaro. Sir John Willoughby and his friends found it principally to the north-east of the mountain “in large herds.” Mr. F. J. Jackson (‘Big Game Shooting’) tells us it is more plentiful in the Useri district to the north-east of Kilimanjaro, and on the Athi plains to the north and west of Machakós, than anywhere else. In the latter place, on August 5, 1890, he and his companions “saw an enormous herd of 1500”; but this was “quite unusual, as they are rarely found in herds of more than from twenty to sixty.” But it is possible that some of Mr. Jackson’s observations may refer to the following species, as when he wrote them he did not distinguish the two animals.

Mr. Jackson gives the following advice to the Gnu-hunter:--“Wildebeests are amongst the most difficult beasts to stalk, owing to the open nature of the country in which they are found, and will probably try the sportsman’s patience more than any other Antelope. They will stand gazing at him, and will sometimes allow him to get within a range of 200 yards, if he pretends to walk past them, though in reality closing in upon them in a semicircle; but directly he stops to take a shot they will shake their heads in the most defiant way, and with a few snorts and flicks of their mule-like tails, kick up their heels and caper off jauntily. As they will, as a rule, pull up a short way off, the sportsman will have the annoyance of again adopting the same tactics, with probably like results, until he might almost believe that the Wildebeest is enjoying itself at his expense. He should, however, avoid risking a long shot (the Wildebeest is an extremely tough brute, and will go for miles when wounded in such a way as would soon bring other game to a standstill), since after two or three fruitless attempts if no shot is fired its suspicions will become allayed, and it will probably stand sufficiently long to give him a good chance.”

The Brindled Gnu is not so commonly met with in Zoological Gardens as the White-tailed species. It is generally considered to be a rarer animal in the market, and the dealers ask a larger price for it. We are informed that a pair of Brindled Gnus bred in the Zoological Gardens at Breslau in 1886 or 1887. The only specimen ever received by the Zoological Society, so far as we can make out, was a female purchased in 1859. In the continental Gardens it has been better represented, and the collections at Antwerp, Amsterdam, and Berlin usually contain specimens of this Antelope. These have been, in many cases, obtained from Mr. Reiche, of Alfeld, who has received several examples of this Gnu among his recent importations of living animals from the Transvaal.

In the British Museum the Brindled Gnu is represented by one of Burchell’s typical examples, as already mentioned, and by an adult male received from Sir Andrew Smith. Both these are mounted specimens. There are likewise a skeleton, obtained by Mr. Selous in Mashonaland in 1885, and a set of skulls and horns in the same collection.

Our Plate of this animal was put on the stone by Mr. Smit from a sketch made by Mr. Wolf. For the use of the woodcut (fig. 13, p. 98), drawn by the celebrated German artist Mützel, we are indebted to the kindness of Messrs. Warne and Co., by whom it has been used in their ‘Royal Natural History’ (vol. ii. p. 314).

January, 1895.

17. THE WHITE-BEARDED GNU.

CONNOCHÆTES ALBOJUBATUS, THOS.

Catoblepas sp. inc., =Hengl.= Ant. u. Buff. N.O.-Afr., N. Act. Leop. xxx. pt. ii. p. 24 (1868) (Sennaar)?

Connochætes gnu, =Hunter=, in Willoughby’s E. Afr. p. 288 (1889)?

Connochaætes taurinus albojubatus, =Thos.= Ann. Mag. N. H. (6) ix. p. 388 (1892); =Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 75, fig. (head and skull) (1892).