156 MAMMALIAORDER VLUNGULATA. 



African antelopes ; it commands a high price and is much sought after. 

 From it are manufactured velschoens (shoes), leather thongs, whip-lashes, 

 and even harness. The hide is thinnish, but excessively tough. I have 

 seen a complete set of Cape cart harness made of kudu hide, which was 

 smart-looking, serviceable, and of everlasting wear. The flesh is excellent 

 and well-tasted, and the marrow bones are esteemed a very great dainty by 

 hunters and natives in the interior. The kudu is widely distributed. Its 

 range extends beyond the Zambesi into Central Africa, and it is found as far 

 north as Somaliland and even Abyssinia. It has a variety of native names 

 even in South Africa. The Bechuanas call it tolo ; the Matabele, e-bala- 

 bala ; the Makalakas, e-zilarwa ; the Makobag, unzwa ; the Masarwa bush- 

 men, dwar ; the Mashunas, noro. In North-east Africa the Somali name is 

 godir ; while upon the Lower Zambesi it is goma." 



Nearly allied to the kudus are the numerous African species of harnessed 

 antelopes ( Tragelaphus), most of which are distinguished by the smaller number 



of spiral turns in the horns, although 

 one species comes so close in this 

 respect to the kudus, that it may be a 

 question whether all should not be 

 included in a single genus. The 

 harnessed-antelopes take their name 

 from the white stripes or rows of 

 spots with which the bodies of nearly 

 all are adorned, some of them being 

 remarkable for the extreme brilliancy 

 of their coloration. Whereas the 

 splendid T. euryceros of West Africa, 

 conspicuous for the brilliant chestnut 

 ground colour of its coat, is only 

 Fig. SC. HARNESSED- ANTELOPE second in size to the kudu, the guib 



(Tragelaphus angasi). (T. scriptus) does not exceed a goat in 



height. Two of the species, one of 



which is the well-known sitatunga or nakong (T. spekei) of South Central 

 Africa, have their hoofs remarkably elongated, and spend their time in 

 marshy situations, where they will conceal themselves by submerging the 

 whole body except the tip of the muzzle. The largest of all antelopes are 

 the two African species of eland (Orms), which differ from the other members 

 of the present section by having horns in both sexes, while they are further 

 distinguished by the close, corkscrew-like spiral of these appendages. 

 Although in one variety of the common species they are fairly well marked, 

 as a rule the white stripes on the body are indistinct or absent. There are few 

 handsomer antelopes than a large eland bull, with its fine dewlap, full tuft 

 of dark brown hair on the forehead, slight mane, and generally pale tawny 

 hair. 



The well-known chamois, gemze, or izard (Rupicapra tragus\ which in- 

 habits all the higher mountain ranges of Europe, and is locally known by the 

 above-mentioned names, is the typical representative of a section of the 

 hollow-horned ruminants, in many respects intermediate between the true 

 antelopes and the goats. Accordingly, they are often spoken of as the 

 caprine, or goat-like antelopes. As a rule, the horns, which are nearly equally 

 developed in both sexes, and rise behind the line of the eyes, are short arid 

 wrinkled at their bases, and conical or somewhat compressed in form, with a 



