1881.] MR. F. C. SELOUS ON AFRICAN ANTELOPES. 751 



Therefore your old hunter, who knows of four species of Lions, and 

 six or seven Rhinoceroses, says that there are two or three distinct 

 species of Elands, the blue, the yellow, and the striped. An Eland 

 bull that I shot last year in the Mashuna country, measured 5 ft. 

 9 in. at the wither. This measurement was carefully taken with a 

 tape line, between two assegais fixed in the ground parallel to one 

 another, the one at the fore foot, the other at the wither. This was 

 an ordinary bull : and I feel sure that they attain a greater size in the 

 more desert country further west ; at least that is my impression, 

 judging by the eye. The longest pair of Eland bull-horns I have 

 seen measured 2 ft. 6 in. in length, the longest pair of cow-horns 

 2 ft. 10 in. The horns of very old bulls are often worn down to 

 little more than a foot in length. Towards the end of the dry season, 

 when the old grass is nearly all burnt off and the new has not yet 

 sprouted. Elands in some parts of the country (in the Mashuna 

 country, for instance) live entirely upon the leaves of bushes ; and their 

 flesh then becomes utterly tasteless. Their flesh has been very much 

 overestimated in my opinion, and is not to be compared for flavour with 

 that of the Buff'alo, Giraffe, Hippopotamus, or White Rhinoceros, 

 supposing, of course, that the animals are all fat and in good con- 

 dition. An Eland bull when fat can be easily run down with an 

 ordinary horse ; but the cows often run with great speed and bottom. 

 The Elands in the Mashuna country run, I think, much harder than 

 those in the more desert countries further west. When pursued, 

 they often bound high into the air, higher than the backs of their 

 fellows. 



Along the Chobe, the Elands drink regularly in the river, usually 

 during the night or just at daybreak, and then feed away through 

 the forest-clad sandbelts, and are seldom to be met with in the 

 middle of the day within six miles of the river. In other parts of 

 the country, however, where for several months in the year there is 

 absolutely no water, Elands, in common with Gemsbuck and Giraffe, 

 live and thrive ; and these desert Elands appear to me to attain to a 

 greater size than those found in the well-watered parts of the country. 

 In these deserts at some seasons of the year a small kind of wild 

 melon, which contains a considerable quantity of water, is plentiful ; 

 and in September and October, which is the dryest season of the year, 

 a white bulb, looking much like a turnip and full of water, is also 

 very common in some parts of the country; and I have no doubt 

 that these melons and water-containing roots are largely eaten by 

 Elands and other animals. 



2. Strepsiceros kudu. 



{Koodoo of the Dutch and English ; Tola of the Bechuanas ; Ee- 

 iff/«-6a/a of the Amandebele; Ee-zilarwa oi i\\& Makalakas; Nora 

 of the Mashunas ; TJnza of the Masubias ; U/izwa of the Makubas ; 

 Muzeeloun of the Batongas ; Dwdr of the Masaras.) 



A few Koodoos still linger in the Cape Colony ; and in parts of 

 Griqnaland West this Antelope is not uncommon. From the Limpopo 

 to the Zambesi, however, and in the Manica country to the north of 



