lOO 



THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. 



above, white underneath, and marked with 

 brown spots on the head. It is often seen 

 in zoological gardens. 



The Canna of the Kaffirs, the Elen of the 

 Boers {Busclap/uts areas), PI. XXIX., is 

 the heaviest of all the antelopes, and that 



which has most resemblance to the oxen, and 

 especially to the zebu. This resemblance is 

 so great that at a distance, when the horns 

 cannot be distinguished, one is in doubt 

 whether a herd grazing in the steppes con- 

 sists of cannas or zebus. The neck adorned 



Fig. 177. — The Mendes Antelope (Aitdax nasoiiiaculatus). 



with a large pendent dewlap, the short sturdy- 

 limbs, the pretty long tail with a large 

 terminal tuft, the absence of tear-pits, the 

 presence of a hump on the shoulders, the 

 brownish-yellow colour, with the white spots 

 on the head and neck, the habits, the gait — 

 everything reminds us of the humped oxen. 

 The horns, however, are very different. 

 They are straight, of moderate length, con- 

 tinue the line of the brow, and have a large 

 thick keel or ridge wound round them spirally 

 to the extremity. A strong bull of this species 

 may reach the weight of a ton. The canna 

 is now found only in Inner Africa between 

 the equator and the Tropic of Cancer, but 



its domain formerly extended to the Cape 

 region, where, at the time when the settlers 

 arrived, troops of several hundred head used 

 to pasture. Mounted hunters endeavour to 

 overtake the old bulls, which cannot hold out 

 very long in running. Descendants of a pair 

 of cannas which the Earl of Derby intro- 

 duced in 1840 are now found in almost all 

 zoological gardens, where they behave like 

 cattle. The flesh is very savoury, that of the 

 young animal tender, while that of the old 

 bulls has a disagreeable odour like the flesh 

 of a he-goat. 



The Mendes Antelope,^ the Abbu Addas of 



' Supposed to be the pyg-ti'g of Deut. xiv. 5. — Tr. 



