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Show 656 MR. R. CRAWSHAY ON THE [Dec. 2, reddish brown, in places verging on coal-black, plainly marked with about forty or more large and small white spots on the flanks and haunches. In some the white stripes may be said to be imperceptible, in others only just discernible, but in a few they are even more clearly defined than in the young males. The mane on the back is white. Young females are of a very rich red, especially the very young fawns, very beautifully spotted and clearly marked with a number of transverse white stripes ; along the back there is a narrow stripe of short dark brown hair, tipped with white. Adult and old females are of a darker red, but are not nearly so plainly spotted and striped as the younger animals. In both male and female there is a broad band round the neck, on which there is only some very fine mouse-coloured hair, the coarser and longer hair having been rubbed off, presumably by contact with overhanging branches; outside this band, again, there is a broad white stripe. A good average length for the horns of the Bush-buck is between 10 and 11 inches ; the lougest pair I have seen measured 1 If inches on the straight, and the bearer of these stood 30 inches at the shoulder, with a neck at the " collar " 20| inches in girth. Bush-bucks are found everywhere on Nyasa, on the plains and in the hills, and I think I may say I have seen or heard them almost wherever I have set foot on the shores of the Lake. I have, however, seen more than anywhere else between Chombi and Nkanga, in a long dense belt of small bush and undergrowth extending for some miles along the margin of the Lake; here in former years there were villages and the land was cleared for cultivation, but these in course of time moved, and, as usual, a heavy crop of small bush and tangled undergrowth quickly came up. In places such as these Bush-bucks are sure to lie, and indeed anywhere in thick clumps of bush, especially those surrounded by open grassland. It is curious how close to the haunts of men these animals will occasionally take up their quarters ; if there is a thicket or a clump of grass or reeds at all undisturbed close to a village, one may be tolerably certain it harbours one or more Bush-bucks. But perhaps the best " find " of all for them is a native burial-place, and one that has been a burial-place for some generations ; here the undergrowth and trees are let run riot, and except when a funeral takes place or an offering is made, no one dares go there for fear of the "masoka" (spirits-of-the-departed) and other " mizimu " (spirits), which are supposed to haunt it. From thus constantly frequentin°- burial-grounds, there is a superstition amongst Nyasa natives that Bush-bucks are evil spirits ; they are said to have a habit of lying on graves, and are also credited with licking the pole on which the corpse has been carried to burial. Natives who believe this will not eat the meat of the animal; some even go so far as to refuse to touch it, and I have occasionally had difficulty in finding men to tan the skin! |