THE ELAND 329 



The ELAND (Taurotragus oryx). 



Doo of the Masaras. Mpofu in Barotsiland. 



Ee-pofo of the Makalakas. Mpofu in Ngamiland. 



Eland of the Dutch and English. Ntamu of the Wagandas. 



Iinpofo of the Amandebele. Msongo in the Chilala and Chibisa 



Insefo of the Masubias and countries. 



Batongas. Oo-scJiefo of the Macubas. 



Mofo of the Mashonas. Pakala of the Makua. 



Mojii of the Gallas. Pofo of the Bechuanas. 



Mpofu of Swahili. Boggah of the Sudanese. 



Eland, which are the largest of all antelopes, resemble the bongo 

 in the presence of horns in both sexes ; these forming a close spiral 

 like a screw, with an upward and outward direction. They likewise 

 resemble the bongo in possessing a long, tufted, ox-like tail, but have 

 a distinct dewlap. Eemale horns are more slender than those of the 

 bulls. 



Bulls of the common eland stand from 5 feet 9 inches to as much 

 as 6^ feet at the shoulder. They have a large tuft of hair on the 

 forehead, and the horns are of moderate length and stoutness. The 

 typical race ( 7'. oryx typicus), which formerly extended from the Cape 

 nearly to the Zambesi, has a uniformly tawny skin, without transverse 

 white stripes or a dark brown band above the knees, and appears to 

 be the largest form. Farther north a dark brown knee-band is 

 assumed by adult bulls ; and towards the Zambesi, and thence 

 north and east into the heart of the continent, the bulls have not 

 only this dark knee-band, but the body in both sexes is marked by 

 fine vertical white lines. This striped variety has been named T. 

 oryx livingstonei. An eland from British East Africa has the sides 

 of the forehead chestnut in place of dark brown, and an imperfect white 

 chevron below the eyes ; it has been named 7\ oryx pattersonianus. 

 Westward the species ranges into Angola. 



Throughout Southern Africa, largely owing to the skin-hunters, 

 eland are now becoming exceedingly scarce ; and they have already 

 more or less completely disappeared from Cape Colony, Natal, the 

 Orange River Colony, Griqualand West, and the Transvaal. In the 

 northern Kalahari, where they exist for a great part of the year with- 

 out water, large herds are still to be met with. No species of large 

 game is more easily approached than eland, and, as a rule, none succumbs 

 more speedily to the bullet. Occasionally female eland develop horns 



