ANTELOPES OF EAST AFRICA 



fate, but I am glad to say that I have sighted many 

 hundreds of them during my travels in German East 

 Africa. The largest troop I found in Kikuyuland. It 

 consisted of forty -seven animals, which were grazing 

 in the wide, open plain in the company of ostriches, so 

 that I could not possibly stalk them. My first eland 

 antelope I killed near the Nakuro Lake, two others 

 on English territory near Kibwezi. The eland runs in 

 troops of varying size, each troop containing one or 

 two adult males. Old bulls are often found singly. 



The eland is an excellent mountain-climber. Hans 

 Meyer and Captain Merker found it on the plateaus 

 of the Kilimanjaro, fifteen thousand feet above the 

 level of the sea. Professor Meyer believes that he has 

 found a mountain species which never descends into 

 the plain ; but my experience and observation con- 

 vince me that there is n(~) such species. The eland, 

 like many other African mammals, leads a nomadic 

 life, keeping to the lower parts of the steppe during the 

 rainy season and climbing to the mountain plateaus 

 during the dry season, here to-day, there to-morrow-, 

 wherever fresh food is offered. The eland is linown to 

 stray to the very shores of the Indian Ocean in search 

 of food. The heart of the hunter beats fast when he 

 sees this fine game for the first time. 



The "singoita," as the Wandorobbo call the elands, 

 graze scattered over the plain. When suspicious of dan- 

 ger the herd assembles and starts on its flight, first in a 



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