502 



THE CLOVEN-HOOFED ANIMALS. 



many respects. The ground color of its coat is a 

 reddish brown-gray tint, difficult to describe, which 

 merges into whitish gray on the hinder parts of the 

 abdomen and the inner surfaces of the limbs. This 

 color is relieved with white stripes, usually from 

 seven to nine in number. The horns are a magnifi- 

 cent adornment of the buck, being certainly the 

 stateliest members of their kind found among the 

 Antelope group. They attain a height, measured 

 in a direct line, of from thirty-six to forty or even 

 forty-two inches, their tips diverging to the extent 

 of from twenty-eight to thirty-two inches. It is dif- 

 ficult to understand how the animal is able to carry 

 the weight of such horns with the ease and majesty 

 it displays in its bearing, 

 ffanpe anrf Wunf- The Koodoo, called Agasen and 

 ingofthe Tigrish in Abyssinia, has a wide 

 Koodoo. range, extending from Cape Colony, 

 throughout the eastern half of Africa, to the Nile 

 regions. It seems to be absent in the middle por- 

 tions of the western half of Africa, that is, in the 

 Congo region. The Koodoo probably chiefly in- 

 habits rocky and mountainous regions, but it occurs 

 also on the plain, at least in southern Africa it ranges 

 over the plains overgrown with bushes and trees and 

 is also at home among thorny bushes growing in 

 jungle-like thickets, but cannot be considered a for- 

 est dweller in the common sense of the term. In 

 the Bogos country we found it at an elevation as low 

 as one thousand eight hundred feet above the sea, 

 •ascending to an altitude of six thousand feet, always 

 among the precipices, along the brinks of which, 

 among the green mimosas, it stalked in a majestic 

 manner. Full-grown bucks live solitarily, but the 

 does assemble in small bands of from four to six. 



In all countries where the stately, beautifully 

 marked Koodoo is found, it is subject to the most 

 zealous pursuit. Its flesh is really excellent, as I 

 have convinced myself personally, its taste being 

 similar to that of the venison of the European Stag. 

 The marrow of the bones is considered a rare deli- 

 cacy by many of the south African tribes. The 

 Caffres, especially, have no more pressing business 

 on hand, when they have killed a Koodoo, than to 

 strip the flesh off the bones and break the larger 

 bones, and suck the marrow out, raw as it is. The 

 hide is also much valued in south Africa and is con- 

 sidered unsurpassable for some purposes. In Abys- 

 sinia the skin is tanned, and of the horns, after their 

 internal cancellated structure has been removed by 

 ■decay, are made receptacles for honey, salt, coffee 

 -and other articles. 



BOVINE ANTELOPES. 



The group of the Bovine Antelopes (Buse/apkus) 

 represents in a certain measure an intermediate link 

 between the Antelopes and the Oxen. The anatom- 

 ical proportions of all the species comprised in this 

 group are cumbersome and clumsy; the body and 

 neck are short and stout, the head large, the tail 

 resembles that of a cow, the skin of the throat is 

 elongated into a low, pendulous dewlap, the horns, 

 which are characteristic of both sexes, are slightly 

 curved backward from the line of the face, are tri- 

 angular in shape and exhibit several spiral turns of 

 the seam produced by the union at acute angles of 

 the three sides. 

 The Eland a Fa- The Eland {Buselaphus areas) attains 

 mous African a total length of nearly thirteen feet 

 Antelope. four inches, twenty-eight inches 

 -of which are included in the tail. The height at 



the withers ranges between five feet and six feet 

 four inches, and the weight is i,ooo, or, according to 

 Harris, even 2,000 pounds. The color undergoes 

 various modifications according to age and also the 

 locality which the animal inhabits. Adult bucks are 

 light brown or yellowish gray on their upper surface, 

 with a surface tinge of rusty red; the flanks are whit- 

 ish yellow, the under parts and the outer faces of the 

 lower portions of the thighs are yellowish white, the 

 head is light yellow-brown. Some individuals show 

 bold and usually transverse stripes upon the body; 

 with others the stripes are faint, and some have none 

 at all. The largest horns which Selous measured 

 ■ attained a direct length of thirty and one-half inches 

 in the males, in which, by reason of use, they arte 

 generally worn or broken, and thirty-four and one- 

 half inches in the female. 



Habitat and The Eland is distributed over a much 



Habits of the larger portion of Africa than was 

 Eland. formerly believed. Prior to the in- 



vestigations of Heuglin and Schweinfurth the ani- 

 mal > was thought to inhabit only the south of thb 

 continent; at present we know that it occurs in all 

 available parts of the southern half and the eastern 

 half to a point far north of the equator. In the last 

 century it was found in Cape Colony; at present it 

 has retreated far into the interior. Its favorite past- 

 ures are the high grassy plains scantily overgrown 

 with mimosas, from which it descends into the damp 

 lowlands in times of drought. A strange fact con- 

 cerning it is that it is also found in mountainous 

 localities, and that on the roughest places, most diffi- 

 cult of access. Hans Meyer observed several troops 

 on the high plain of the Kilimanjaro, at an altitude 

 of 14,000 feet, and saw the spoor of the stately ani- 

 mals at a height of upwards of 15,000 feet. Seen 

 from a distance a herd of Elands resembles a 'herd 

 of domestic Cattle, to such an extent as to often mis- 

 lead the observer.. If they are pursued, they pro- 

 ceed at a gallop, which does not seem to be very 

 swift but in reality rapidly puts distance between 

 them and their enemies. If pressed hard, they 

 quicken their pace to a steady swinging gallop. 

 The Eland in Cap- The Eland Antelopes at one time 



tiuity—Profita- were familiar features of European 

 ble Game. zoological gardens, but are now be- 

 coming rare. Weifiberg says that all specimens 

 existing in them now are the descendants of two 

 couples, introduced; into England in 1840 and 185 1. 

 London first furnished the gardens and parks of 

 Great Britain with these animals and then the zoo- 

 logical gardens of the rest of Europe. The descend- 

 ants of thesq animals show the docility and stu- 

 pidity of domestic Cattle and readily propagate 

 themselves. Once a choice young bull was killed 

 and its flesh was served at the royal table at Wind- 

 sor, at the Tuileries of Paris, and also at a banquet 

 of the Houses of Lords and Commons, and the cor- 

 rect proportion of fat and lean in the meat was 

 thought to be particularly excellent. 



The profit of a successful Eland hunt is consider- 

 able. The flesh is dried or salted; the fat, of which 

 there is not infrequently a large quantity, is mixed 

 with a little beef-suet and alum and made into good 

 candles, while the uncommonly thick and tough 

 hide is manufactured into excellent straps. 



THE NYLGHAU. 



In recent years an Indian Antelope, which travel- 

 ers often mentioned under the name of Blue-bull, 

 the Nylghau {Portax pictus) has frequently been taken 



