AT DAGGERS DRAWN 65 



gather strength and skill enough to establish their right 

 to mate. 



The Elands present some puzzling features, for both 

 sexes bear large horns, and they are very massive in the 

 bulls. Yet these animals are generally described as the 

 most inoffensive of all the horned ruminants. That the 

 horns are used to any extent in conflicts between rival 

 males seems doubtful, inasmuch as this species is remark- 

 able for the development of an enormous " dewlap," a 

 thin pendulous fold of skin which runs from the throat 

 to the chest. Such a form of " ornament " — for in this 

 light we must regard it — would be dangerous, indeed, 

 when much fighting was to be done. Nevertheless, it 

 would be contrary to all our experience to conclude that 

 weapons so well developed as are the horns of the bull 

 Eland were entirely useless. This is a matter which 

 decidedly calls for further investigation. 



That our knowledge of that most important period of 

 life of the larger mammals, the period of sexual exaltation, 

 is lamentably incomplete will be realized by anyone who 

 seeks enlightenment on this subject. Most of the meagre 

 information we possess has been collected by travellers 

 and sportsmen, neither of whom have the time to devote 

 to the long and laborious watches that a fuller history 

 demands. Every now and then a glimpse is afforded of 

 this period of the life-history which brings home in a very 

 convincing fashion, how little is really known. It seems 

 certain that the fighting hitherto described is to be 

 regarded as but a phase of a cycle of events which takes 

 place at this time. Thus, for example, the old naturalist 

 and traveller Schweinfurth tells how he once encountered 

 a herd of Hartebeest which were apparently effervescing 

 with animal spirits, for they kept running around in 



5 



