182 
WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WA YS 
CHAP. 
female have horns, those of the male being 
superior. 
I saw this species for the first time near the 
Bahr Salaam in Abyssinia, also subsequently upon 
the border of the Settite river. In portions of 
Central Africa they are more plentiful, but they 
are not so generally distributed as the bubalis or 
strepsiceros. 
A very handsome variety of the large 
antelopes is the water- buck or mehedehet (A. 
ellipsiprymna). This is an exceedingly massive 
animal, nearly allied to the red-deer in colour and 
texture of hair. It weighs about 600 lbs. when 
alive. The dark-brown hair of the throat is 
coarse, and somewhat shaggy in the males; the 
horns are long, distinctly annulated, and after 
turning slightly backwards, the extremities project 
forward in a gentle curve. The flesh of this 
variety is coarse, and although eaten, it is not 
esteemed, even by the Arabs. 
As the name “ water-buck ” would imply, this 
species is found in the neighbourhood of swamps 
and rivers. A fine old male is a grand-looking 
creature, resembling a German stag with a 
winter coat, surmounted by large horns of goat¬ 
like appearance. The females are devoid of 
horns, and they look at a ‘distance exactly like the 
hinds of red-deer, or sambur. 
I have shot a great number of these animals, 
as I have been compelled during many years to 
depend upon the rifle for a supply of food, not 
