262 
TRAVELS IN 
when prancing over the plains. The gnoo might be confidered 
as an emblem of unbounded freedom with the means of fup- 
porting it. Strength, fwiftnefs, weapons of defence, a nice 
nofe, and a quick fight, it eminently pofTefles. No fuccefsful 
attempts have yet been made to tame it. The flefh is fo like 
that of an ox, both in appearance and tafte, that it is not to be 
diftinguifhed from it. 
The heavy lumpifh figure of the eland formed a great con- 
traft with the elegant fhape of the gnoo. The former were not 
lefs numerous than the latter, and as eafily taken as the other 
was difficult. Of all the fpecies of antelopes in Southern Africa 
this is by much the largeft and the moft aukward. The head, 
the thick neck, and dewlap of the male, the body, legs, and 
hoofs, are bovine. The horns and tail only indicate its affinity 
to the antelope tribe. Its habit, its gait, its fize, and general 
appearance, are thofe of the ox. The g7ioo when wounded be- 
comes furious and turns upon his purfuer ; and he is faid to be 
fo impatient of pain and danger, that, in order to put a fpeedy 
end to them, he will frequently fly to a pit of water and drown 
himfelf. The eland is altogether as mild and patient. On ac- 
count of the great eafe with which they are taken, the utility 
of their flefh as food, and of their fkins for harnefs and traces, 
few of them now remain within the limits of the colony ; and 
in a few years the eland will in all probability be a rare beaft 
in the fouthern angle of Africa. The rude farmers who, like 
children, grafp only at the gratification of the moment, without 
any regard to futurity, are taking the heft means in the world 
to haften their extirpation. The bull, being much larger, fat- 
ter, 
