On referring to Mr. Nicolls’s articles in the ‘Field’ newspaper, in which his “Travels and Sport along the Botletle River and round Lake Ngami” are narrated, we find the occurrence in question described as follows:—
“At midday (in August 1887) we arrived at Ku-Ku’s. A native missionary, who has spent several years in this country representing the London Missionary Society, informed us that his efforts towards converting the Western Bamangwato tribes and Makobas to Christianity had up to the present proved unsuccessful. From him we also received intelligence that the Nakon waterbuck was very plentiful in the Taoke swamp, a distance of twenty miles off. This was indeed very joyful news to me, as I had always been most anxious to shoot a specimen of this animal, a prize which, I understood, had not previously been obtained by any white man, at least south of the Zambesi. However, Ku-Ku strongly advised me not to go shooting in the swamp till I had seen Moremi and obtained his permission to do so, on account, Ku-Ku said, of that chief being very unwilling to allow any strangers there, the district being used by his people as a place of refuge in case of another attack by the Matabele. I adopted his advice, which, as it turned out afterwards, was rightly given.
“I arrived at De Nokane, Moremi’s town (a distance of 537 miles 680 yards from Khama’s). The station occupied by the chief is situated on a small river which issues from the Okavango, and finally gets lost in the vast Taoke swamp.
“At midday I came to a large Makoba village, built on a small piece of rising ground adjoining the swamp. To the left, right, and front, as far as the eye could reach, there was nothing visible but vast patches of tall reeds; here and there, on portions of more rising ground, little groves of dwarf fan-palms; and occasionally, as if a godsend to relieve the monotony of such a dreary landscape, a towering palm waved its feathered head to the uncertain breeze.
“As I had still a long distance to walk before arriving at the spot most frequented by the Nakon, and as I desired to be there at least an hour before sundown (this, or shortly after daylight in the morning, being the only time at which a fair chance of a shot could be obtained), without making any delay, I at once entered the swamp, and for the first half-hour waded knee-deep in water, caused by a late overflow from the Taoke river, and my progress, although very tiring, was at least endurable. Resting for about twenty minutes on a small dry knoll, overgrown with fan-palms, my Makoba guides, of whom I had three, pointed to a long green streak of rushes about three miles off, which, they assured me, was very much frequented by the game I was in search of. Progression now became more difficult, as the water not only became much deeper, but firm footing was more uncertain, owing to the burrowing of fish in the alluvial soil. One of my guides now took the lead, and with the end of his long fish assegai tried every inch of the ground in front as we went along. Notwithstanding his solicitude on my behalf, I had the misfortune to plunge head forward into a hole, thoroughly saturating my clothing and filling my rifle with water. It was nearly four o’clock in the afternoon when I arrived at another small island within 300 or 400 yards of the fringe of reeds I have before alluded to, and which was really the bed of the Taoke choked up by rotten vegetation and papyrus-roots, the river slowly percolating through the mass. Having enjoyed an hour’s rest on this haven of safety, and the favourable time having arrived, I again proceeded onwards, and found that my work up to that time had been merely child’s play, compared to that which I now had before me. There was no footing whatever obtainable, with the exception of a network of papyrus-roots, which stretched along in every direction, and was just sufficiently tough to support a man, the bog moving up and down at every footstep. To add to the charm of the situation, the mosquitoes, prematurely disturbed from their afternoon siesta, rose in clouds from the rotten swamp, biting my face, neck, and hands most viciously. Groping and staggering along in this manner till about an hour before sundown, I had seen no game, and was just beginning to give it up as a bad job, when one of the Makobas pointed out the figure of an animal lying, or standing, with a portion of its back and the whole head out of the water, about 200 yards away. It was a Nakon ram, carrying a very fine pair of horns; but from the position he was placed in, I saw there was no earthly chance of killing him at the distance. Thinking to approach a little, I advanced cautiously; but had scarcely proceeded a dozen yards when, as if out of the water, not more than 60 yards off, up jumped another one, bounding along crossways with a most convulsive-looking movement. I took a very hasty shot, and had the satisfaction of seeing the animal tumble over with a big splash in the water. It turned out, unfortunately, to be a doe, full-grown, with a young one at foot. I had shot my first Nakon, and I solemnly affirm it will certainly be my last, except under much more favourable circumstances. An attempt to bring out the carcase that night being utterly useless, two Makobas slept on the small island, and I myself turned back to the village, where I arrived long after midnight, and, although completely done up with fatigue, could not sleep a wink, owing to the myriads of mosquitoes which preyed on me the whole night long.”
From Lake Ngami the little animal thus captured was carried by Mr. Nicolls and his companions in their waggon 800 miles to Kimberley, and thence brought by rail and steamer to London. On arrival at the Gardens it was placed in a sheltered compartment of the Gazelles’ sheds, in which the yard in front was covered with dried peat-fibre in order to suit its elongated hoofs. Accompanying the Secretary’s Report on the additions to the Society’s Menagerie in October 1890, in which its arrival was noticed, will be found a coloured plate by Mr. Smit, giving an accurate representation of the animal as it then appeared. The Sitatunga thus acquired quickly attained its full stature, and showing symptoms of readiness to breed, was placed, in 1894, in company with a male of the Congo species (L. gratus) which had been obtained by purchase from the Zoological Gardens, Hamburg, no male of its own species being available. From this union hybrids were born on February 12th, 1896, and on February 28th, 1897, being in each case of the female sex. The period of gestation was, in both cases, about seven months. The young animals in general appearance took after the colour of the female of L. gratus, being of a generally bright red colour with white lateral stripes and white spots on the haunches. Such a young one is well represented, along with its mother, in the background of our Plate XCIV. In June 1899 the Society were fortunate enough to obtain a fine adult male example of this Antelope from the Right Honourable Cecil J. Rhodes’s Park at Groot Schuur, near Capetown, from which the principal figure in our Plate XCIV. has been taken. Mr. Rhodes kindly accepted in exchange for it one of the female hybrids above mentioned. The Society have therefore at present a unique pair of this scarce and beautiful Antelope in the Collection, besides the female hybrid born in 1896.
The specimens in the National Collection referable to this form of the Sitatunga comprise two pairs of horns from the Chobé River (Selous), one pair of young horns from Lake Ngami (J. A. Green), the skin of an adult from the Zambesi (Chapman), and a pair of horns from Lake Mweru (Crawshay).
When Mr. Rothschild separated this southern form of the Sitatunga as Tragelaphus selousi in 1898 (Nov. Zool. vol. v. p. 206), he did not distinctly state the specimen from which he took the description of the adult male, but we presume it to be the above-mentioned specimen from the Barotze District (Coryndon), which he has kindly lent us. For the type of his female, however, Mr. Rothschild expressly designates the female now living in the Zoological Society’s Gardens. We are therefore, no doubt, correct in applying the appropriate specific name “selousi” to the present form.
April, 1900.
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XCV.