Dimensions of a good male example:—Basal length 4 inches, greatest breadth 2·3, muzzle to orbit 2·15.
Horns from 2½ to 3 inches long, very slender, their circumference at their thickest part only about 1·4 inch.
Hab. Islets in Zanzibar Harbour and the coast-districts of the mainland from Kilimanjaro southwards to Mozambique.
The discovery of this little Antelope is due to the researches of the Swedish naturalist Baron von Düben, who described it in 1846 from specimens procured by himself at Zanzibar, and named it Nesotragus moschatus—“Nesotragus” from its supposed insular habitat, and “moschatus” from the musky smell of its facial glands. Little more was known of this species until 1861, when Mr. Layard described it as new under the name Cephalophorus zanzibaricus from specimens in the South-African Museum which he had himself obtained during the voyage of H.M.S. ‘Cantor’ on the island off Zanzibar used as a European burial-ground. According to what Mr. Layard was told the species had been introduced here by Col. Hamilton, and had multiplied so largely that sixteen were shot in an hour by a party of the ship’s officers. “The island was covered with low bush, out of which the men beat the Antelopes, which ran along the beach like rabbits. Their runs could be traced in all directions through the bushes.”
In 1864 Sclater recorded this Antelope among the mammals obtained by Capt. Speke during his celebrated expedition into East Africa. Speke’s specimen, an adult male, obtained at Zanzibar, is now in the gallery of the British Museum, and is, we believe, the original of Wolf’s water-colour drawing (now in the possession of Sir Douglas Brooke), whence Mr. Smit’s figure (Plate XXVIII.) was engraved under Sir Victor Brooke’s superintendence.
Sir John Kirk, so long known as H.B.M. Consul-General at Zanzibar, who furnished a set of skins and skulls of this Antelope to the National Collection, has most kindly supplied us with the following notes on it:—
“The small Antelope (Nesotragus moschatus) which you ask about was common on two small coral islands that guard the entrances to the harbour of Zanzibar (which is situated on the land or western side of the island of that name) about 1866, when I first took up residence there. I never knew of it having been seen anywhere else, not even on the main island of Zanzibar. I have heard it said, however, on reliable authority that it has been met with on the continent; this, however, I cannot confirm from personal experience. To me, therefore, the little Antelope is known only on these two small islands that I have indicated. Both of them are made of coral-rock raised about 15 feet above sea-level. They are much eroded on the exposed sea face and on the surface, where the sharp angles of rock make progress most difficult and even dangerous. There is no fresh water on these islands, unless it be the little that gathers in the pot-holes, but these are generally deep with sharp edges, and out of reach of the Nesotragus, which for many months cannot get fresh water other than rain or dew on the leaves.
“These islands are covered with dense bush and tangled creepers, and the Ipomœa pescapræ and Canavalia bean form a green mat down to the water-edge. Elsewhere all is evergreen bush and trees; the only grass there has a wiry texture, and is never eaten. The Nesotragus, like so many other Antelopes, lives on leaves and twigs of trees and scrub, and this is probably why it is so difficult to keep in captivity. I made many attempts to rear young ones and send them to the Zoological Gardens, but failed. Only once was I able to keep one alive for any time by gradually accustoming it to eat native millet or sorghum.
“When first I went to Zanzibar there was no cultivation on either of these islands, but in time Bawe, the larger of the two, was planted with cocoanuts where there was sand. Two thirds of the island, however, were nothing but bare coral-rock, covered with tangled jungle, and useless for any purpose, and there the Antelope held its own, or rather just managed to resist extermination.
“On the other island, which was only used as a burial-place for Europeans, the Antelope was much more numerous. This island was nearly all bare rock, cut up with pot-holes, and covered with tangled vegetation; only at one point was there sand, and this was the spot converted into a cemetery.