Nor shady tree, nor cloud-capp’d mountain.”
Nevertheless (more especially at early morn), it occasionally frequents the banks of periodical rivers, flanked or bordered by broken ground or hills; and it is to such localities, when pursued, that it flies for refuge.
Though the gemsbok has rarely, if ever, been known to attack man, it is quite capable of defending itself. With its formidable horns it can strike an object (that is, inflict wounds) in front as well as behind, which, from their pointing backward, was hardly to be expected. When driven to bay by dogs, it has been seen to place its head between its legs (the tips of its horns, in the while, almost resting on the ground), and to rip open, or toss into the air, such of its assailants as have had the boldness to confront it. In this manner Hans told me he lost, at different times, the best dogs in his pack.
In open ground, the gemsbok, it is said, will stand on the defensive even against the lion himself. Hans, indeed, knew an instance where a lion and a gemsbok were found lying dead in each other’s grasp, the latter having, with his horns, transfixed his assailant! The carcasses of the two were discovered before decomposition had taken place. The lion seems to have a great dread of the horns of the gemsbok; for, by all accounts, he rarely ventures to attack except by stealth.
The horns of this animal are used by the natives for a variety of purposes. When polished, they form strong and handsome walking-sticks. The flesh, which is well tasted, is highly prized.
“Owing to the uneven nature of the ground which the oryx frequents,” says Gordon Gumming, “its shy and suspicious disposition, and the extreme distances from water to which it must be followed, it is never stalked or driven to an ambush like other antelopes, but is hunted on horseback, and ridden down by a long, severe, tail-on-end chase.” This is not exactly correct, for when on foot I have killed great numbers of these animals. Moreover, were the option left me, I would rather “stalk” them than pursue them on horseback. Such was also Hans’s experience, who, during his seven years’ nomade life in Damara-land, has probably killed more gemsboks than any hunter in Southern Africa. I have also known this animal to be driven into pitfalls.
The gemsbok, as a rule, runs, like the eland, against the wind when pursued.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Arrival at Eikhams.—Native Dogs; cruelly treated.—Jonker Afrikaner.—The Author visits the Red Nation; the bad Repute of these People.—The Author attacked by Ophthalmia.—The embryo Locust.—The “flying” Locust; its Devastations.—The Locust-bird.—Arrival at Rehoboth; the Place described.