3-034-803 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Hunting the Sable Antelope in South Africa, 1871. 'The blauwbok or sable antelope is so called from its apparent colour, but its hide or skin is perfectly black and its hair is ashy grey; the effect is a bluish tinge, whence its name is derived. Its body is 6 ft. in length, and it stands 3 ft. 7 in. high at the shoulder. The horns, round and curving backwards, with twenty or thirty rings, and very sharp points, are 2 ft. 2 in, long; the ears are 8 in. long, and the tail, with a tuft at the end, is 12 in. long. The blauwbok lives in families of five or six females with one male, on the open plains north of the Gareep or Orange River. It is fierce and dangerous when attacked, but the hunters pursue it on horseback, and kill it with the rifle when brought to bay. The sketch we have engraved was drawn by Mr. Thomas Baines, the South African traveller and explorer'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.