They make the water dash away from the gunwale,
and, though the leche goes off by a succession of prodigious bounds,
its feet appearing to touch the bottom at each spring,
they manage to spear great numbers of them.
The nakong often shares a similar fate. This is a new species,
rather smaller than the leche, and in shape has more of paunchiness
than any antelope I ever saw. Its gait closely resembles
the gallop of a dog when tired. The hair is long and rather sparse,
so that it is never sleek-looking. It is of a grayish-brown color,
and has horns twisted in the manner of a koodoo, but much smaller,
and with a double ridge winding round each of them.
Its habitat is the marsh and the muddy bogs; the great length of its foot
between the point of the toe and supplemental hoofs enables it
to make a print about a foot in length; it feeds by night,
and lies hid among the reeds and rushes by day; when pursued,
it dashes into sedgy places containing water, and immerses the whole body,
leaving only the point of the nose and ends of the horns exposed.
The hunters burn large patches of reed in order to drive the nakong
out of his lair; occasionally the ends of the horns project above the water;
but when it sees itself surrounded by enemies in canoes,
it will rather allow its horns to be scorched in the burning reed
than come forth from its hiding-place.
