The Eland. 171 



The cows have usually longer and much thinner horns 

 than the bulls, and two I have near me as I write measure 

 as follows : 



Horns of a large and old bull 



IN. 

 Length ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 25^ 



Tip to tip i8f 



Circumference .. ... ... ... ... ... 12^ 



Horns of a large cow in her prime 



IN. 



Length ... ... ... 3 i 



Tip to tip ... ... ... ... ... ... i8| 



Circumference ... ... ... ... ... ... 8^ 



The above measurements show the great difference in 

 the girth of the horns. The weight of the two heads, 

 without lower jaws, were, the bull's 24lb., the cow's I3lb. 

 Thus the bull's skull and horns weighed almost twice as 

 much as the cow's, but I must say this was an exceptionally 

 heavy bull, in fact the most bulky eland I have ever killed, 

 .and his neck and body measurements were phenomenal, as 

 I have mentioned in Chapter II. 



His horns, when shot, measured 26in., and in the course 

 of six months or so they had shrunk half-an-inch, which is 

 usual with most horns ; and ivory, also, dries up and gets 

 lighter after being kept for some time. 



Some elands have whitish tips to their horns, and this is 

 sometimes seen in kudu and bushbuck horns. Situtunga 

 .and inyala also often grow white tips, I believe. Although 

 I write " white," the colour is more of a light amber. 



The cows and young animals have pretty reddish brown 

 hides with stripes, and there is great difference between 

 the weight of an old bull and a big cow. 



At times elands can be found in enormous herds of from 

 100 to 300 animals. I recently saw a herd of about 200 

 of all sizes., but did not see any really old bull among 

 them, and I think, like buffaloes and elephants, the very 

 old stagers mostly lead a solitary existence, only consorting 

 with big herds at intervals. 



