CHAPTER VL 
THE ELAND. 
Then ther cast an their gowns of qrene i 
Quy took thepr haters each one; 
Ant the merrye-men atvap to the grene forrest 
AM a shooting forth are gone, 
Wer will hill a fat bucke then sxtt hold Robyn Poove 
And tress it on the wap sive here, 
Go kill me a burke, quoth bold Rodyn Woode 
Oo Slay mea faire fal Deere, 
Oxsesity forming one of the exclusive prerogatives of African royalty, it is mot surprising that the Eland—more lusty, fat, and 
well looking, than any other wild qaadruped—should assume unto himself an air of princely consequence. “Lord of an hundred does,” 
amongst which he moves with all the pomp and self-importance of a nabob in his harem, the stately bull is at once the most corpulent, 
one of the most ponderous, and certainly the most magnificent, of all the ruminants. In shape and general aspect, he resembles a well 
conditioned Guzerat ox, not unfrequently attaining the height of nineteen hands at the withers, and absolutely weighing from fifteen 
hundred to two thousand pounds! But notwithstanding this enormous bulk of carease, which is literally enveloped in goodly collops of 
quaking fat, the head is strictly that of the antelope—hght, graceful, and bony, It is armed with a pair of elegantly diverging horns, 
which rising from a mask of bright rufous feathers, incline somewhat below the plane of the face, and forming two sides of an isosceles 
triangle, are encircled by a ponderous spiral ring, the internal nucleus, or bony core of which, is nearly of the consisteney and weight 
of ivory. A deep pendulous dewlap fringed with coarse hair, dangles at his knees; and added to a fatty eminence, which approaches to 
a slight hump, on the withers, together with sundry rolls of brawn about the collar, produces an extraorditiary depth of chest and fore- 
hand. The colour varies considerably with the age, being in some specimens dun—in others, ashy blue with a tinge of ochre—and in 
many, sandy grey approaching to white. The female—infinitely less yoluminous, and more lady-like in her figure—exhibits all those 
separating characters which distinguish the sexes of domestic horned cattle. She resembles in general conformation, a red Guernsey 
cow, and is provided with longer and more attenuated horns than her very apoplectic-looking lord. 
The feelings of exultation which attended my first introduction to this noble quadruped on the wooded banks of the Meritsane, 
will not readily pass from my recollection. My companion and myself had been for some time engaged in the hot pursuit of a motley 
group of Brindled Gnoos, Quaggas, Ostriches, Sassaybes, and Hartebeests—one of those astounding herbiverous assemblages described 
in a foregoing chapter—the thunder of whose hoofs, like the distant din of war, sounded in our ears 
As if men fought upon the earth, 
And fiends in upper air:— 
a band of hungry harpies following in our track, tripped nimbly up to each victim as it fell—completing, by the scientific insertion of 
the point of an assegai between the vertebrae of the back, the work which our rifle bullets had commenced, and instantly covering the 
carcase with branches to secure it from the voracity of a host of attendant vultures—when two strange figures were suddenly perceived 
in the distance, monsters of obesity, which we instantly recognised to be Elands. Swinging their pendulum-like tails from side to side, 
and sometimes brushing away the troublesome flies with their moist noses, these mountains of Hesh and lard were lazily standing under 
the shade of one of those immense thatched cities constructed by the Loxia in a wide-spreading mokaala, of which tree numbers were 
distributed with park-like regularity over the level face of the landscape, At the first glimpse of the sleek forms of these animals, the 
savages became strangely excited, Water trickled from the corners of their capacious mouths, and they impatiently urged us to the 
pursuit, by running in advance of our horses, pointing energetically with their fingers, and exclaiming with eager delight, Pooffo! Pooffo ! 
—nor had many seconds elapsed ere we found ourselves pressing our panting steeds to the utmost at their retreating heels. Trusting 
to escape by mixing with the flying troops of Gnoos and Quaggas—which continually dashed across our path, or diverged on either side 
to admit of the passage of the chase—their deep hairy dewlaps vibrated from side to side, and their pursy ribs quivered again with the 
unwonted exertion. Notwithstanding their unwieldy shape, however, they had at first greatly the speed of our jaded and toilworn 
horses—covering the ground with a celerity truly surprising, and making the firm earth ring under their efforts to escape; but on 
being pushed, they presently exhibited symptoms of distress, and turning their beautiful heads, looked repeatedly over their plump 
shoulders to learn if they had not shaken off their persecutors. Finding us still at their heels, they shortly separated ; their sleek coats 
turned first blue, and then white with froth, the foam fell in bellropes from their open mouths, grease trickled from their nostrils, and 
the perspiration streamed from their lusty sides. The steeds came up hand over hand, and in another moment were abreast of the 
uow labouring fugitives, whose pace gradually slackened till it had dwindled into a clumsy trot, when with their full brilliant eyes 
turned imploringly towards us—saying almost plainer than words could speak, “Do pray now leave me alone,”—at the end of a mile, 
unresisting, each was laid low with a single ball, 
