xxvii ANIMALS WHICH PROVIDE MEAT, ETC. 267 



sporting lot, having even prohibited his slaughter in 

 their neighbourhood. Attempts have been made, with 

 moderate success, to utilise his great strength for 

 transport, under the idea, sound in itself, that the 

 domesticity of the eland might solve the problem of 

 such work in tsetse-fly districts. It is to be feared 

 that the experiment is likely to be more expensive 

 than useful. 



Waterbuck in British East Africa are of two kinds, 

 Ellipsiprymnus and Defassa. Though the difference 

 between the two is not very great, it is quite distinct, 

 and as far as I know there is no recorded instance of 

 the two species intermingling or interbreeding. The 

 Defassa is somewhat larger, of a redder colour, and has 

 a whole white rump, while that of the Ellipsiprymnus 

 has an elliptical white marking. Roughly speaking, 

 it may be said that to the east of the Kikuyu escarp- 

 ment is the habitat of the Ellipsiprymnus ', to the west 

 of the Defassa. In the eyes of settlers the water- 

 buck's merits consist of his beauty and the toughness 

 of his hide ; the latter provides the strongest and best 

 " reims " of any antelope. To my mind, with the 

 possible and doubtful exception of the Greater Kudu, 

 the waterbuck is the most handsome of all our bucks ; 

 and unlike the kudu, the waterbuck is by no means 

 averse to displaying his charms. His gait and 

 carriage are singularly stag-like and majestic, and the 

 sight of a herd of, say, a dozen does and two fine 

 bulls amidst a grove of sweet-smelling mimosa trees 

 fringing a stream, cannot fail to thrill the onlooker 

 with an intense pleasure. There is, unfortunately, a 

 great diminution of shootable bulls in the Protectorate, 

 due doubtless to the fact that, not only is the trophy 

 exceedingly handsome, but it is very easily obtained. 



