XXII 
ANTELOPES 
283 
like beef, but they disdain the flesh of antelope. Many 
settlers esteem eland beef, but it is very much overrated. 
One enthusiastic writer considers a cut from the 
brisket fit for a monarch,” but this would of course 
depend upon the condition of his majesty’s appetite. 
A settler near Lake Elmenteita informed me that a herd 
of eland crossed his farm twice yearly on the way to the 
crater of Menengai; he looked out a fine bull, and after 
shooting it pickled the flesh for his own consumption 
and regarded it as beef. 
Many attempts have been made to acclimatise elands 
in the British Isles : they breed in the Zoological 
Gardens. In the Kikuyu country I saw a young eland 
bull running with cattle, and at Njaro an eland bull 
six months old in a pen with calves. In South Africa 
the eland is almost extinct, in East Africa the number 
of this antelope is rapidly diminishing. Elands are found 
on grass plateaus and in wooded districts, on hills 
and on plains. 
The Boari and Sable antelopes belong to a genus 
which has no popular name. Zoologists term them 
Hippotragince, which may be rendered Horse-Antelopes : 
it is an apt name. The Koan antelope is a handsome 
animal standing four feet high at the withers furnished 
with large gracefully-curved horns. Its colour is a rich 
dark glossy brown, and there are white stripes on the 
face : the belly is white, and there are four teats like 
oxen. The muzzle is hairy and the tail long and tufted. 
Eoan antelopes frequent wooded uplands in herds 
including ten or twenty individuals. These animals 
are endowed with great speed and staying powers, and 
are dangerous to approach when wounded. 
The Oryx is a well-known antelope distinguished by 
long straight horns which slope backwards, and lie more 
or less in the plane of the face. Oryx antelopes are 
found throughout the desert tracts of Africa, generally 
in herds ; old males sometimes separate from the others. 
They flourish where vegetation is scanty. The East 
