“On the 5th of October, last year, I was shooting near a village called Mantana’s (lat. 16° 30´ S., long. 35° E.), about 7´ W. by S. of Chilomo, near the right bank of the Shiré River. Impala (Æpyceros melampus) are very plentiful about this particular spot, but I had not been able to get a shot at a good head. Later in the day, wanting meat, I decided to kill what I could, and coming across a solitary doe I fired. Great was the astonishment of myself and boys to find I had killed a female Inyala. I took the skin to Chilomo, and was told it was the first Inyala ever known to have been killed about these parts, and that it was practically an unknown animal there.
“On the 26th of October, near the same spot, a male Inyala was killed by the then Surgeon of this ship. On the 29th of October I saw together 2 Inyalas and 8 Impalas. On the following day, at dusk, I met with and killed a solitary male Inyala, whose skin I forward. The natives were tremendously excited, dancing about and exclaiming ‘Bōōh,’ ‘Bōōh,’ the local name for the Inyala. They examined the body with great care. I was told in the village that the natives, on account of some superstition, would not touch the meat. Our bluejackets, however, ate it, and it was very good. The skin was remarkably glossy and soft, and the hair was long under the neck.”
In 1893 (see P. Z. S. 1893, p. 729) Sclater found a skull of this Antelope in one of Mr. Crawshay’s collections from the district of Lake Mweru, but we are not quite certain that it was actually obtained in that locality. Sir Harry Johnston, in his volume on ‘British Central Africa,’ sums up his information on this species as follows:—
“I am inclined to think that the Inyala Antelope of British Central Africa is limited in its range, so far as we yet know, to the Western and Upper Shiré districts and the Lake Mweru district, and that it may be of a different form from the Inyala of South-east Africa, inasmuch as the males retain the white spots and stripes on the skin to a greater extent, and do not assume such a grey fur at maturity. The Inyala, locally called Bōō, is a very rare animal, frequenting dense thickets. Its horns somewhat resemble those of the Bushbuck, but are much larger proportionately, much wider apart, and slenderer. They may measure as much as 22½ inches in length along the curve (I have a pair of horns giving this measurement). I have only twice seen skins of the adult animal. They were extraordinarily beautiful in colour, the females a deep chestnut, with narrow stripes and spots in pure white, and a black line along the middle of the back from the neck to the base of the tail; the male purplish-grey, with white markings.”
Fig. 106.
Angas’ Antelope, ♂ & ♀.
There is also some reason for suspecting that the Inyala, or a nearly allied form, extends even as far north as British East Africa. This suspicion rests upon the evidence supplied by a pair of horns, not specifically distinguishable from those of the typical Tragelaphus angasi, which were procured from the Mau Forest by Mr. F. J. Jackson, C.B. These horns, which are now in the British Museum, were exhibited by Sclater before the Zoological Society of London in May 1897, and are figured on p. 455 of the Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for that year (see fig. 107, p. 147). Unfortunately no skin accompanied the horns; and the specific determination of the Antelope that bore them is rendered uncertain on account of the description of the animal given by the native hunter who killed it. This description, if accurate, certainly applies to a species of Bushbuck distinct both from the Inyala and from all the other known species of Tragelaphus. Hence it is earnestly to be hoped that Mr. Jackson will soon be successful in his attempt to clear up the mystery in which the identity of this interesting Antelope is involved.
Fig. 107.
Horns of Tragelaphus sp. inc.
(P. Z. S. 1897, p. 455.)
We are not aware that any specimen of Angas’ Antelope has ever been brought to Europe alive, and it is by no means commonly met with in our museums. The British Museum contains an adult pair mounted, obtained in St. Lucia Bay by Mr. R. S. Fellowes in 1871, also specimens from the Pongolo River, Zululand, obtained by Mr. Eastwood, and from the Maputa River, obtained by Proudfoot. There are also in the National Collection the specimens from Nyasaland procured by Mr. Sharpe, Sir Harry Johnston, Mr. Crawshay, and Lieut. Oliver, of which we have made mention above. Finally, there is a good mounted pair of specimens obtained by Mr. Selous during his special expedition in quest of this Antelope.
Our principal illustration of Angas’ Antelope (Plate XCII.) was put upon the stone by Mr. Smit, under the directions of the late Sir Victor Brooke, from sketches made by Wolf, and was probably taken from the mounted specimens then in the British Museum. At the same time the woodcut (fig. 106, p. 146), also containing figures of both sexes, was prepared by Mr. Smit.
November, 1899.