156 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



still better, of some complete specimens of the skin, 

 skull, and horns for museums would surely repay 

 any enterprising sportsman-naturalist. 



The common eland stands in these days, in fine 

 male examples, as much as 18 hands, or 6 feet, at 

 the shoulder, and weighs at most some 1500 or 1600 

 Ibs. In the old days, when elands were common in 

 South Africa, and sportsmen had far more choice than 

 at the present time, still bigger bulls were occasionally 

 encountered. Mr., afterwards Sir John Barrow, the 

 well-known secretary to the Admiralty, a most 

 careful observer, gives the shoulder height of an 

 eland shot in northern Cape Colony in 1797 at 6 feet 

 6 inches, or 19^ hands. Personally, I see no reason 

 whatever to doubt that record. The shape and 

 coloration of elands is so well known, from specimens 

 at the Zoological Gardens, that I refrain from giving 

 details. It is worth noting, however, that in the 

 wild state the species develop much grander propor- 

 tions than in captivity, and the old bulls especially 

 attain colossal proportions. These old bulls are 

 literally rolling in fat and, when ridden hard, will 

 actually fall dead from the exertion. Their hearts 

 are enclosed in enormous masses of fat, and it is easy 

 to understand that the violent exertion of a sustained 

 chase may end in sudden death without the aid of 

 the hunter's bullet. These patriarchs lose their hair 

 to a great extent, and the skin, showing through, 

 imparts a bluish aspect. The front of the face in 

 adult wild specimens of the male eland is clothed with 

 a thick upstanding brush of stiff, dark-brown hair. 



