2-888-035 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Springbok Hunting in South Africa, 1850. 'The Springbok, or Bontebok {Antilope euchore)...is a most magnificent animal, larger than the gazelle, equalling...the speed of the fastest race-horse, and requiring the hardest riding and most intimate knowledge of its ways to enable the sportsman to get a fair shot...the sportsman, having dismounted, is taking a second shot at a wounded animal. His cap is decorated with ostrich-feathers; the horse is quite exhausted with the long chase. To the left is the cart which carries the game; and in the background several ostriches are scampering off...When pursued, Springboks frequently take an extraordinary bound (hence their name), rising with curved or elevated backs high into the air, generally to the height of eight feet, and appearing as if about to take flight'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.