xxvil ANIMALS WHICH PROVIDE MEAT, ETC. 267 
sporting lot, having even prohibited his slaughter in 
their neighbourhood. Attempts have been made, with 
moderate success, to utilise his great strength for 
transport, under the idea, sound in itself, that the 
domesticity of the eland might solve the problem of 
such work in tsetse-fly districts. It is to be feared 
that the experiment is likely to be more expensive 
than useful. 
Water buck in British East Africa are of two kinds, 
Ellipsiprymnus and Defassa. Though the difference 
between the two is not very great, it is quite distinct, 
and as far as I know there is no recorded instance of 
the two species intermingling or interbreeding. The 
Defassa is somewhat larger, of a redder colour, and has 
a whole white rump, while that of the Ellipsiprymnus 
has an elliptical white marking. Roughly speaking, 
it may be said that to the east of the Kikuyu escarp¬ 
ment is the habitat of the Ellipsiprymnus , to the west 
of the Defassa . In the eyes of settlers the water- 
buck’s merits consist of his beauty and the toughness 
of his hide ; the latter provides the strongest and best 
“ reims ” of any antelope. To my mind, with the 
possible and doubtful exception of the Greater Kudu, 
the waterbuck is the most handsome of all our bucks ; 
and unlike the kudu, the waterbuck is by no means 
averse to displaying his charms. His gait and 
carriage are singularly stag-like and majestic, and the 
sight of a herd of, say, a dozen does and two fine 
bulls amidst a grove of sweet-smelling mimosa trees 
fringing a stream, cannot fail to thrill the onlooker 
with an intense pleasure. There is, unfortunately, a 
great diminution of shootable bulls in the Protectorate, 
due doubtless to the fact that, not only is the trophy 
exceedingly handsome, but it is very easily obtained. 
