HUNTING IN SOUTHERN AFRICA. 217 



graceful, and bony, with a pair of magnificent straight horns, 

 about two feet in length, spirally ringed, and pointed back- 

 wards. A broad and deep dewlap, fringed with brown hair, 

 reaches to the knee. The colour varies considerably with the 

 age, being dun in some, in others an ashy blue with a tinge 

 of ochre ; and in many also sandy grey approaching to white. 

 The flesh is esteemed by all classes in Africa, above that of 

 any other animal ; in grain and colour it resembles beef, but 

 is better tasted, and more delicate, possessing a pure game 

 flavor, and the quantity of fat with which it is interlarded is 

 surprising, greatly exceeding that of any other game quad- 

 ruped with which I am acquainted. The female is smaller and 

 of slighter form, with less ponderous horns. The stoutest of 

 our savage attendants could with difficulty transport the head 

 of the eland to the wagons, where one of the Hottentots had 

 just arrived with the carcass of a sassaybe that he had dragged 

 a considerable distance assisted by upwards of twenty sa- 

 vages. These men were no sooner made acquainted with the 

 occurrences of the morning, than they set off at speed upon the 

 tracks of our horses, and were presently out of sight. About 

 sunset the party returned gorged to the throats, and groaning 

 under an external load of flesh, which having been unable to 

 consume, they had hung round their necks. 



" About midnight an unsual commotion caused us to start 

 from our sleep. The whole of the cattle had burst through 

 the thorn fence by which they were surrounded, and panic- 

 stricken, were blindly charging they knew not whither ; oxen, 

 horses, and sheep, tumbling headlong over the wagon poles, 

 and over each other, in indescribable confusion. The night 

 was intensely dark, Coeur de Lion had clambered on to the 

 top of the baggage-wagon, and was screaming like a woman, 

 whilst each Hottentot was discharging his gun, loaded with 

 ball, in any direction that the muzzle might happen to have 

 assumed. The horses were the least alarmed, and after 

 floundering about in the dark for some time, we succeeded in 



19 



