Chapter IX: Appendix (8)

“Though the species is gone from the countries south of the
Transvaal, there is still a very fair number in the northern
forests of that country, and these are not confined to ‘a few
troops which still linger,’ as most books on the subject would
give us to understand. The fact is, very little hunting goes on in
these countries, owing to absence of water and thickness of the
bush; the amount of game still to be found there cannot therefore
be very much less than in the greater part of Mashonaland, which
is very much hunted. I think the following speaks for itself. Four
hunters whom I trekked up with each killed on an average ten
Koodoos in three months, besides a lot of Pallah and Blue
Wildebeests; and this too, in every instance, close to the main
road in the Transvaal. If then they could do this, there must
surely be a very fair quantity of game in the hundreds of
untrodden miles in the south-west and east of the several drifts
of the Limpopo. In Mashonaland the Koodoo is probably only reduced
in numbers near the transport roads, while it is still plentiful
in the neighbourhood of all the rivers and pans of that country
where the bush is suitable to its habits.”

In his well-known volume on the ‘Haunts of Wild Game,’ Mr. F. V. Kirby introduces us to the habits of the present species in the following terms:—

“Koodoo frequent rocky bush-covered hills—the rougher and more
apparently inaccessible they are the better they like them; but in
the Low Country they are equally at home in the heavy belts of
bush which line the rivers and water-courses. As a rule, in the
latter district they are fairly easy to run into on horseback,
although individual bulls and the cows will display great speed
and endurance; but in the hill country it requires much patience
and care to circumvent an old bull successfully. Unfortunately for
themselves, Koodoo are of a most curious disposition, and seldom
run far without standing and looking back at their pursuer. Their
leaping powers are marvellous, and I have seen them clear
obstacles 8 feet in height with apparent ease. Their sense of
hearing is very acute—one needs only to look at the large,
rounded, mobile ears to be satisfied on that point; and I believe
they trust more to that sense for their safety than to any other.
Though almost invariably found in the near neighbourhood of water,
I fancy they can go for a long time without drinking, judging by
the extensive dry areas in which I have found them.”

Mr. W. L. Sclater, in his new volume on the Mammals of South Africa, states that within the limits of his work (that is Africa south of the Zambesi and Cunene Rivers) the Kudu is still probably the most abundant and widespread of the larger Antelopes. Within the Cape Colony, Mr. Sclater tells us, the Kudu is yet to be met with in the southern districts, from the Riversdale and Prince Albert divisions, eastwards to Albany and Fort Beaufort. It is stated to be even abundant in the bush-country along the Koonap and Great Fish Rivers. In the northern parts of the Colony it is also fairly common in parts of Griqualand West and Prieska. In German South-west Africa, Bechuanaland, Rhodesia, the northern and eastern parts of the Transvaal, the Portuguese territories, and in Zululand it is also fairly plentiful in suitable localities. In the South-African Museum at Capetown there are mounted specimens of a male Kudu from near Barberton in the Transvaal, and of a female from Koonap in the Albany division of the Cape Colony.

But the Kudu, as we shall see, ranges far beyond the limits of Mr. Sclater’s South Africa, and we will now proceed to trace its distribution throughout Eastern Africa into the northern territories of Abyssinia and the Egyptian Soudan.

In Nyasaland, Mr. Crawshay tells us, the Kudu is to be met with practically all over the Protectorate, especially in the rugged wooded highlands away from the haunts of men. In the Portuguese provinces on the coast, according to Peters, it appears to be likewise generally distributed. Proceeding to German East Africa, we find it also widely diffused there, extending westwards up to Lake Tanganyika, although, as Herr Matschie tells us, it is “nowhere common.” In British East Africa, Mr. F. J. Jackson informs us, the Kudu is “a rare beast and only found in certain places.” There are always “a few,” he says, “in the Teita country west of Ndara and Kisigao, and on the banks of the Tsavo River, down which it ranges from the head-waters to the Sabaki, and then north up the Athi. All these districts are more or less undulating, very rough, dry and stony, and covered with thick bush.” Further north, Graf Teleki shot two Greater Kudus a few miles to the south of Lake Barengo, and Dr. Donaldson Smith, in the course of his travels, saw one at El Madu in about 4° N. lat. Mr. Arthur H. Neumann met with the Greater Koodoo near Lake Rudolf, as related in his ‘Elephant-hunting,’ but considers it very uncommon in the districts which he traversed. Passing northwards to Somaliland, we find the Kudu more abundant on the higher grounds. Capt. Swayne informs us that it inhabits the top of Wagar Mountain and the Golis Range, which rise to about 6800 feet.

Lieut.-Col. H. D. Olivier, R.E., F.Z.S., who has recently returned from a hunting excursion in Northern Somaliland, has favoured us with the following notes:—

“I first came across the Greater Koodoo in the Golis Range, and I
also found it to the west of Hargeisa and near Milmil, as far
south as lat. 8°. The first locality, however, was the only one
where I pursued it, and it was there more abundant than in the two
last-mentioned places. The Golis Range consists of a series of
high bluffs under which lies a sort of undercliff forming a lower
plateau. This is grown over with gigantic Euphorbias and dense
brushwood, interspersed with huge boulders which have fallen from
the cliffs above. The Koodoo apparently lie up in very thick
patches of such jungle, at least I always found this the case, and
the first intimation of their presence was invariably a crash as
the quarry dashed off, generally out of sight. Their habit,
however, of stopping after a hundred yards or so, to examine the
cause of their alarm, is often fatal to them. They seem to lie
pretty close, and on one occasion I walked all round one without
discovering it, which we did eventually by finding its tracks at
the end of our circuit and following them up. The Koodoo browse on
the young shoots, and I have also found them eating the smaller
kinds of Euphorbias.

“At the time I was looking for them the rainy season was on, and I
think this much assisted us, for it rendered tracking easy and our
movements less noisy than they would have been in the dry weather.
During five days’ shooting we saw five good bucks, and secured
three of them. I found that when alarmed they did not travel very
far, and that by patiently following the tracks we generally came
up to them within a couple of miles. All the bucks I came across
were solitary, and the hinds seemed to live in small herds of from
three to seven or eight. A sportsman could not wish for a grander
sight than a startled Koodoo dashing off along the hillside, or
standing on the look-out on some point of vantage. Their flesh is
poor eating, and their hides are of little value from an
ornamental point of view, but the head and neck, and the ruff,
when well mounted, form a splendid trophy.”

The existence of the Kudu in Abyssinia has long been recorded, and it would appear to be found all over the wilder and more wooded parts of that country from 3000 to 9000 feet in altitude. According to Rüppell, however, who in 1835 first identified it with the Cape animal, the Kudu descends nearly to the sea-coast near Massoua. Heuglin has likewise recorded its presence in the Egyptian territories of the Atbara, Galabat, and Bogos north of Abyssinia, as well as in Kordofan and in the more elevated districts of the White Nile. Thus we see that throughout the eastern part of Africa the Greater Kudu is one of the most widely distributed of the larger Antelopes.

On the West Coast of Africa the range of the Kudu is much more limited. It occurs, no doubt, in German South-west Africa, and has been recorded by Anchieta from Angola, but we are disposed to consider its alleged existence in the Congo Valley as not yet proven. Nor are we aware of any evidence of its occurrence further north on the West Coast.

It is singular that, while its near relatives the Eland and the Bushbucks thrive in captivity, the Kudu never appears to accommodate itself well to existence in European menageries. During his long experience Sclater has had opportunities of seeing many Kudus in various Zoological Gardens, but does not recollect a single case in which such an animal appeared to be in perfect health and condition and likely to do well. The first Kudu received by the Zoological Society of London arrived in 1860 along with other animals from the Cape, presented by the late Sir George Grey. It was a female and did not live long. In June 1868 a young male, from Upper Nubia, was acquired by purchase, but was also quickly lost. Nor have the Society been much more successful with specimens acquired in 1873, 1874, 1880, and 1895, although a female purchased in 1873 lived nearly seven years in their Gardens.

The accompanying woodcut (fig. 114, p. 183) was prepared by Mr. Smit from the pair of Kudus which were living together in the Society’s Gardens from 1874 to 1879.

Wolf’s beautiful drawing of this Antelope (Plate XCVI.) was prepared some twenty-five years ago for Sir Victor Brooke, and exhibited at the Zoological Society’s Meeting in June 1875, in order to show the differences between this species and the Lesser Kudu, but we regret to say we have been unable to ascertain upon what materials it was based.

In the Gallery of the British Museum of Natural History at South Kensington there is to be seen a very fine and large mounted male specimen of the Greater Kudu, which was shot by Mr. F. C. Selous on the Macloutsi River, Upper Limpopo, in May 1890, and presented by that gentleman to the National Collection. This splendid animal stands 59 inches in height at the withers and its horns are 43 inches long in a straight line. There are also other specimens of the Kudu (skins, skulls, or horns) in the British Museum from Bogos-land, Abyssinia, the Shiré Highlands of British Central Africa, and the Cape Colony.

_April_, 1900.

131. THE LESSER KUDU.

STREPSICEROS IMBERBIS, Blyth.

[PLATE XCVII.]

_Strepsiceros imberbis_, =Blyth=, P. Z. S. 1869, p. 55; =Sclater=, P.
Z. S. 1878, p. 441, 1884, p. 45, pl. iv., & p. 539; =Lort Phillips=,
P. Z. S. 1885, p. 931; =Huet=, Bull. Soc. Acclim. (4) iv. p. 76
(1887); =Hunter=, in Willoughby’s E. Afr. p. 288 (1889); =Jentink=,
Notes Leyd. Mus. xii. pp. 211–221 (1890); =Flow & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 348
(1891); =Inverarity=, Journ. Bombay N. H. Soc. vi. p. 465, pl.
(1891); =Ward=, Horn Meas. 1892, p. 163, 1896, p. 208; =Jent.= Cat.
Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 172 (1892); =Sclater=, P.
Z. S. 1892, pp. 102, 118; =Swayne=, P. Z. S. 1892, p. 302; =Lugard=,
Rise E. Afr. Emp. i. p. 537 (1893); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 252
(1893); =id.= Royal Nat. Hist. ii. p. 274 (1894); =Jackson=, Big
Game Shooting, i. p. 304 (1894); =Matsch.= Säug. Deutsch-Ost-Afr. p.
137 (1895); =Swayne=, Somaliland, p. 303 (1895); =Elliot=, Publ.
Chicago Mus., Zool. i. p. 134 (1897); =Pousarg.= Ann. Sci. Nat. iv.
p. 81 (1897); =Jackson=, P. Z. S. 1897, p. 454; =Ghika=, Pays des
Somalis, p. 182 (1898); =Matsch.= in Werther’s Die mittl. Hochländ.
Deutsch-Ost-Afr. p. 255 (1898); =Trouessart=, Cat. Mamm. ii. pt. 4,
p. 961 (1898); =De Winton=, P. Z. S. 1898, p. 768; =Inverarity=, in
Ward’s Great and Small Game of Africa, p. 451 (1899).

_Strepsiceros kudu_, =Horsf.= Cat. Mamm. E. I. Comp. p. 170 (1851)
(part.).

_Strepsiceros kudu_, var., =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 143; =id.= Ann.
Mag. Nat. Hist. (2) viii. p. 225 (1851); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p.
133 (1852) (part.).

_Strepsiceros tendal_, =Gray=, Hand-l. Rum. p. 118 (1873) (_nec_
Fischer).

_Strepsiceros kudu abyssinicus_, =Fitz.= SB. Ak. Wien, lix. p. 176
(1869).

_Tragelaphus strepsiceros_, =Kirk=, P. Z. S. 1873, p. 195; =Brooke=,
P. Z. S. 1875, p. 470.

_Dwarf Koodoo_, =Kirk=, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 441.

Vernacular Names:—_Arreh_ ♂, _Adir_ ♀ (_Elliot_); _Godir_ (_Swayne_
and _Ghika_); _Kungu_ of the Swaheli in B. E. Afr. (_Jackson_).

_Adult male._ Height at the withers about 40 inches. Prevailing colour in the body, head, and neck deep yellowish grey, blackish on the muzzle, cheek, inter-ramal area, and belly; upper lip and chin white, one or two white spots on the cheeks and a strongly defined v-shaped mark at the base of the muzzle between the eyes; ears whitish at the base and round the rim in front. Throat with a conspicuous white patch at its base and fore extremity. A narrow black stripe running along the nape of the neck from the occiput to the withers; a white stripe passing along back from the withers to the root of the tail. Sides of the body and hind-quarters marked with from 11–14, sometimes confluent, white stripes, the first of these crossing the shoulder, the last very short and close to the root of the tail. Tail white beneath, black at the tip. Fore leg grey at the base, the rest of the limb a rich fawn-colour from above the knee to the hoofs, with a large white patch on the inner side at the base, white behind the knee, a black patch just above the knee on the inner side; cannon-bone blackish behind; pasterns black behind, marked with two, sometimes confluent, white spots in front. Hind leg on the inner side and front of the thighs down to the hock white, from the hock downwards bright fawn; front of the pastern and inner side of the fetlock white. A scanty but longish mane on the nape of the neck and withers, and a short but thick crest of hair running along the back. Hair on the sides of the neck and the throat very short, shorter than on the shoulders.

Horns of the male less divergent and with the spiral curvature much closer and less open than in _S. capensis_, the ridge forming a nearly straight axial line; length in a straight line about two feet, round the curve about two feet six inches. The skull of an adult male gives the following measurements:—Basal length 11·75 inches, orbit to muzzle 6·75, greatest width 4·20.

_Female._ Like the male, but without horns, and smaller and slighter in build; without a mane on the neck; white marks on the head and throat less pronounced; head more uniformly fawn, and body of a rich reddish fawn only tinged with grey; neck duller than the body.

_Young male._ Like the female, but assuming the grey coat of the adult before it reaches its full size.

_Hab._ Somaliland and the maritime district of British East Africa.

The late Edward Blyth, well known for many years as the zealous Curator of the Museum of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, was the first to point out that the Kudu had a smaller brother, which, though nearly allied, was specifically quite distinct from its better-known relative. Although it is probable that Blyth was wrong in some of the identifications of previous writers which he assigned to the present species, he was undoubtedly correct in his general views on the subject, and had the merit of assigning to the new _Strepsiceros_ the appropriate name _imberbis_, which at once distinguishes it from its neck-maned ally.

It is singular that while the Greater Kudu, as we have just shown, has such a widely-extended range in Africa, the Lesser Kudu is restricted to a comparatively very small area, extending only, so far as is certainly known, from Somaliland in the north to the coast-region of British Central Africa in the south.

After Blyth the Smaller Kudu appears to have next attracted the attention of Sir John Kirk. Writing to Sclater from Zanzibar, where he was British Consul, in 1873, Sir John stated that he had obtained from the Brava coast a living female Kudu which appeared to belong to a smaller species than the ordinary form (_cf._ P. Z. S. 1873, p. 195). Two years later, in June 1875, the late Sir Victor Brooke exhibited at a meeting of the Zoological Society of London original drawings by Wolf of the two Kudus, and pointed out the distinctions between them (see P. Z. S. 1875, p. 470). These drawings are, as we have every reason to believe, the originals from which the figures (Plates XCVI. and XCVII. of the present work) were prepared by Smit.

In 1878 Sir John Kirk obtained from the Sultan of Zanzibar another specimen of what he called the “Dwarf Kudu” from the southern part of the Somali country, and sent it off to the Zoological Society (see P. Z. S. 1878, p. 441). Unfortunately, however, the animal died on its way home.

It was not, therefore, until 1884 that good specimens of the Lesser Kudu were received in Europe, and a proper comparison could be made between it and the larger and better-known species. This was done by Sclater, and the results were stated in a communication made to the Zoological Society on February 5th of that year. Sclater’s materials were mainly a pair of animals which he had seen alive in the previous October in the menagerie of his friend the late Mons. J. M. Cornély, of Château Beaujardin, Tours. The young male of this pair, having died, was kindly sent to London by M. Cornély and formed the subject of a plate, drawn by Smit, which accompanies Sclater’s article on this animal in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings.’ On the occasion of reading his paper, Sclater was likewise able to exhibit an adult head of the Lesser Kudu which had been sent home by Sir John Kirk, and a pair of horns of a rather younger male of the same animal, belonging to Mons. Cornély, which had been received by him through Mr. Hagenbeck, of Hamburg, from Somaliland, along with the living pair of animals just mentioned.

By the kind favour of the Zoological Society we are enabled to reproduce here (fig. 115, p. 188) the comparative illustration of the horns of two species of Kudu which accompanies Sclater’s paper on this subject in the Society’s ‘Proceedings.’

Mr. E. Lort Phillips, F.Z.S., appears to have been one of the first English sportsmen who personally met with the Lesser Kudu in Somaliland and realized its difference from the Greater Kudu. This was in the winter of 1884–85, when Mr. Lort Phillips visited that country along with Messrs. James, Aylmer, and Thrupp. In his notes on the Antelopes obtained during this journey (see P. Z. S. 1885, p. 931), Mr. Lort Phillips informs us that the Lesser Kudu was met with on the northern slopes of the high plateau of Northern Somaliland, where it resorts to thick covert, and that it was not usually found far from water. Since that date most, if not all, of the numerous British shooting-parties in Somaliland have succeeded in obtaining heads of this beautiful species.

Capt. Swayne, our leading authority on the Antelopes of Somaliland, writes of the Lesser Kudu as follows:—

“This is, to my mind, quite the most beautiful of all the Somali
Antelopes, and the skin is more brilliantly marked and the body
more gracefully shaped than that of the Greater Koodoo.

“The Lesser Koodoo is found in thick jungles of the larger kind of
thorn-tree, especially where there is an undergrowth of the _hig_
or slender-pointed aloe, which is of a light green colour and
grows from four to six feet high. This Antelope may also be found
hiding in dense thickets of tamarisk in the river-beds. It is not
met with in the open grass plains, and I have never seen one in
the cedar-forests on the top of the Gólis. Its favourite haunts
used to be along the foot of this range, and I do not think its
numbers have been much diminished of late years. By far the best
Lesser-Koodoo ground I have ever visited is the thick forest on
the banks of the Webbe, near Imé and Karanleh. These Webbe
specimens are different from those found under Gólis, as they are
smaller, have shorter horns, are still more brilliantly marked,
and have hoofs nearly twice as long. The hoofs of a Webbe Lesser
Koodoo are, like those of a Webbe Bushbuck, of extraordinary
length.

“The Lesser Koodoo likes to be near water, and, living as it does
amongst the densest thickets, has its ears wonderfully well
developed. It has powerful hind-quarters, and is a strong leaper,
the white bushy tail flashing over the aloe-clumps as it takes
them in great bounds. They are very cunning, and will stand quite
still on the farther side of a thicket listening to the advancing
trackers, then a slight rustle is heard as they gallop away. The
best way to get a specimen is to follow the fresh tracks of a
buck, the sportsman advancing in a direction parallel with that of
the tracker, but some fifty yards to one flank and in advance; a
snap-shot may then be got as the Koodoo bounds out of the farther
side of a thicket, but you may be months in the country before
getting a really good buck. They go in herds of about the same
number as do the Greater Koodoos. Old bucks are nearly black and
the horns become smooth by rubbing against trees; and scars of all
sorts remain on the neck, being the result of wild rushes through
the jungle and fights with other bucks. The average length of a
good buck’s horns is about 25 inches from base to tip. The longest
I have shot or seen was between 27 and 28 inches in length in a
straight line. The horns are very sharp, but I have never seen a
Lesser Koodoo attempt to charge.”

Lt.-Col. H. O. Olivier, R.E., who has lately made a short hunting-tour in Somaliland, sends us the following field-notes on the Lesser Kudu:—

“The Lesser Koodoo is, I consider, a more difficult animal to
circumvent than the Larger Koodoo. They are met with in thick
scrubby jungle and are extremely wary. I found that when once they
had seen us it was almost hopeless to get a shot, as they have a
habit of standing in deep shade looking back over a fork of a tree
or through the top of a bush along their back track, and one
cannot evade their eyesight, however quietly one moves. Moreover,
they constantly go off down-wind.

“They seem to be partial to moving in a restricted range, for I
found that when following their tracks they always worked round in
a circle. They are also very partial to disused zarebas, which
they visit for the sake of the grass found there, and the finest
animal I ever saw was observed sunning itself in the middle of
such a zareba about 9 o’clock in the morning. Naturally I had not
my rifle, and my shikari, who had it, did not see the Koodoo, and
though I followed it for some six hours I never got a chance at
it; but it was a real beauty.

“I was fortunate in twice getting shots at animals before they saw
me by coming unexpectedly on them and not tracking them, which
latter operation is a weariness to the flesh and exasperating to
the temper. I found the Lesser Koodoo at the foot of the Golis
Range, and in considerable numbers on the Farfan and Dachato
Rivers; also to the west of Hargeisa, and indeed in the Hargeisa
jungle itself. They seemed to go in very small parties; I never
saw more than two together, and at the time I was in Somaliland,
_i.e._ from May to August, the tracks were always solitary.

“They appear often to fall victims to wild beasts, more often than
most Antelopes. I found one killed by a lioness, another by a
panther, and a third by wild dogs. Both the last were bucks—in
fact I came across many more males than females, but this may have
been chance.

“Their coat of slaty grey with irregular stripes harmonizes
wonderfully with the foliage, and, as in the case of the Cheetah
in India, exactly reproduces the chequered shade of sunshine
through leaves.”

We have already spoken of the occurrence of the Lesser Kudu on the Brava Coast in Southern Somaliland, and this species is stated by Mr. Hunter to be one of the commonest Antelopes on the Tana River. The same writer informs us that it is also found in the bush round Taveta, and on the Kikavo River near the Sogonoe Hills, but is seldom met with near Kilimanjaro. As Mr. F. J. Jackson writes (‘Big Game Shooting,’ vol. i. p. 304), the Lesser Kudu is confined, in British East Africa, principally to the belt of dry bush-country which extends from the coast to 100 miles inland. Mr. Jackson continues his remarks with the subjoined interesting notes on this species:—

“I was told by Messrs. Hobley and Bird-Thompson, on their return
from a trip up the Tana river in 1891, that many of these
Antelopes had fallen victims to the cattle disease (anthrax), and
that they found several dead in the bush between the river and the
northern boundaries of the Elkambani. These beautiful beasts are
bush feeders. They should be sought for in the early morning and
again in the evening, in the open bush which usually fringes thick
bush, in which they take up their quarters for the day. They are
generally found in small parties of two or three does and a buck,
though, like the Bushbuck, both single bucks and does are often
seen by themselves. At Marereni, in 1886, I witnessed a fight
between two bucks. On emerging from the bush, I suddenly came
across them, and watched them for about a quarter of an hour as
they fought with great fury, in spite of my being to windward of
them, and not more than 400 yards off at the time. They fought so
furiously, and kept their heads together so long, that I thought
they had got their horns locked together, and I attempted to take
advantage of them whilst in this position, and ran across the
sandy open space intervening between us, but before I got within
range they separated and bolted. The jumping powers of the Lesser
Kudu are simply marvellous. When I first went to Africa, I kept a
record of the length of the strides of the various game-beasts
when at full gallop, but unfortunately lost it, and never took the
subject up again. I remember, however, measuring the jump of one
of these beasts, which struck me at the time as being very
wonderful. She had been chased by a hyæna along a narrow footpath
in a dense bush. In the middle of a path was a thick green bush
about 5 ft. high, round which the path took a turn, and then went
straight on again. The Kudu had taken a flying leap over this
bush, and the distance between the spoor of her hind feet where
she took off and the edge of the bush was 15 ft. The diameter of
the bush was 6 ft., and the distance from the edge of the bush on
the further side to where she landed—_i.e._ to the spoor-marks of
her hind feet—another 10 ft., in all 31 feet. The hyæna had given
up the chase some 30 yards further on, where the Kudu had entered
the bush. The note of alarm of this beast is a distinct and loud
bark, much resembling that of an ‘old man’ baboon. Lesser Kudu
appear to bark only when they scent danger but are unable to see
it. As I have said before, many natives will not touch the flesh
of this beast, as it causes them great pain in the mouth and
gums.”

We have already mentioned the fact that a living pair of the Lesser Kudu was received at the Château Beaujardin, Tours, from Somaliland, by Mons. Cornély in 1884. In April 1886 Mons. Cornély was kind enough, having lost the female of a pair of these Antelopes then in his garden, to part with the solitary male in favour of the Zoological Society of London. This was the first specimen received in England; but in April 1889 a second example, likewise a young male, was presented to the Society’s Collection by Mr. George S. Mackenzie, F.Z.S. In July 1898 a third young male was obtained by purchase. But none of these individuals, we regret to state, can be said to have done well in the Regent’s Park. We are not aware of any specimen of this Antelope having been received in any of the many continental Gardens.

In the British Museum, besides the old stuffed specimen received from the East Indian Museum, which may be considered the real type of Blyth’s species, there is mounted in one of the large glass-cases in the Gallery the young male presented by Mons. Cornély to Sclater and figured in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings,’ as already mentioned. This was subsequently presented by Sclater to the National Collection. In the same glass-case there are also mounted a fine adult male from Somaliland, presented by Mr. R. McD. Hawker, and a female from British East Africa, presented by Mr. Rowland Ward. There are also skins and skulls in the Museum presented by Sir John Kirk, Col. Paget, Capt. Swayne, and other donors.

Our drawing of this beautiful Antelope (Plate XCVII.) was put upon the stone by Mr. Smit from the sketch made for Sir Victor Brooke by Wolf in 1875, of which we have already spoken.

_April,_ 1900.

Genus V. TAUROTRAGUS.

Type.
_Oreas_, =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 471 (1822)
(_nec_ Hübner, 1806) T. oryx.

_Taurotragus_, =Wagn.= Schr. Säug., Suppl.
v. p. 439 (1855) T. oryx.

_Doratoceros_, =Lyd.= Field, lxxviii. p. 130 (1891) T. oryx.

Very large, heavily-built, bovine Antelopes, differing from the rest of the Tragelaphinæ in the presence of horns in both sexes. Horns longer than the face, arising well behind the orbits and directed backwards in the plane of the nasal bones, massive (in the male) and furnished with a strong but close spiral twist in the basal half; the anterior crest large, making a complete circuit of the horn and reappearing on its anterior surface near the middle when the horn is unworn, and always at some distance from the tip.

Hair on the forehead longer than on the rest of the head, and forming, in old males, a thick and stiff mat; hair on the nape forming a short mane reversed in the direction of the growth, the parting close to the withers. Throat furnished with a flap of loose skin, or dewlap, which bears a beardlike tuft of hairs.

Tail reaching to the hocks, covered with short hair, but tufted at the tip.

_Female._ Like the male, but slighter in build; without the thick frontal mat of hair; horns longer, thinner, less strongly crested, and usually much less twisted. Mammæ 4.

_Range of the Genus._ Africa south of the Sahara, from Senegambia
and the White Nile in the north to Cape Colony in the south.

The two species of this genus may be shortly diagnosed as follows:—

A. Ears narrow and pointed; neck brown like the body. 132. _T. oryx._
B. Ears large and expanded; neck black, with a white posterior margin. 133. _T. derbianus._

132. THE ELAND.

TAUROTRAGUS ORYX (Pall.).

[PLATES XCVIII. & XCIX.]

Subspecies _a._ Taurotragus oryx tyficus.

_Le Coudous_, =Buffon=, Hist. Nat. xii. p. 357, pl. xlvi. b (horns).

_Le Canna_, =Allamand=, in Buff. H. N. (Schneider’s ed.), Suppl. v. p.
16, pl. vii. (1781); =Buff.= H. N. Suppl. vi. p. 116, pl. xii.
(1782).

_Kaapsche Eland_, =Vosmaer=, Regn. An. tab. xvii. (1783).

_Antilope oryx_, =Pallas=, Misc. Zool. p. 9 (1766); =id.= Spic. Zool.
i. p. 15 (1767); =Müller=, Natursyst. Suppl. p. 55 (1776); =Erxl.=
Syst. R. A. p. 275 (1777); =Zimm.= Spec. Zool. Geogr. p. 539 (1777);
=Gatt.= Brev. Zool. i. p. 79 (1780); =Sparrm.= Reise, p. 504, pl.
xii. (1784); =id.= Engl. Transl. i. p. 131, & ii. pp. 96 & 204, pl.
i. (1786); =Lath. & Davies=, Faunul. Ind. p. 4 (1795); =G. Cuv.=
Tabl. Elém. p. 163 (1798); =Licht.= in Förster’s Descr. Anim. p. 33.
n. 379 (1844).

_Taurotragus oryx_, =Lyd., Selous, & Penrice=, in Ward’s Great and
Small Game of Afr. pp. 421–439, pl. xii. figs. 1–3 (1899).

_Antilope oreas_, =Pallas=, Spic. Zool. xii. p. 17 (1777); =Zimm=.
Geogr. Ges. ii. p. 109 (1780), iii. p. 269 (1783); =Schreb.= Säug.
pl. cclvi. (1784); =Bodd.= Elench. Anim. p. 139 (1785); =Gm.= Linn.
S. N. i. p. 190 (1788); =Kerr=, Linn. An. K. p. 317 (1792); =Donnd.=
Zool. Beitr. i. p. 639 (1792); =Lath. & Davies=, Faunul. Ind. p. 4
(1795); =Link=, Beytr. Nat. ii. p. 100 (1795); =Bechst.= Syst.
Uebers. vierf. Th. ii. p. 642 (1800); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool. pt. 2, p.
319, pl. clxxxv. (1801); =Turt.= Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 115 (1802);
=Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. Nat. vi. p. 376 (1803), xxiv. p. 32 (1804);
=G. Cuv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. ii. p. 244 (1804); =Thunb.= Mém. Ac. St.
Pétersb. iii. p. 314, fig. p. 106 (1811); =Licht.= Reise, i. p. 155
(1811), ii. pp. 39 & 646 (1812); =G. Fisch.= Zoogn. iii. p. 422
(1814); =Afz.= N. Acta Upsal. vii. p. 220 (1815); =G. Cuv.= R. A. i.
p. 263 (1817); =Burchell=, List of Quadr. p. 7 (1817); =id.=
Travels, i. p. 245 (1822); =Goldf.= Schreb. Säug. v. p. 1153 (1818);
Gray, Med. Rep. xv. p. 307 (1821); =Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 396
(1821); =Desmoul.= Dict. Class. d’H. N. i. 447 (1822); =J. B.
Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 477 (1829); =Masson=, Cuvier’s R. A. i. p. 317
(1836); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 449 (1845); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 200
(1853); =Drumm.= Large Game, pp. 137 & 425 (1875); =Huet=, Bull.
Soc. Acclim. (4) iv. p 471 (1887).

_Capra oreas_, =Thunb.= Resa, ii. p. 66 (1789); =id.= Engl. Transl,
ii. p. 58 (1793).

_Antilope (Bubalis) oreas_, =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freunde, vi. p. 153
(1814).

_Antilope (Buselaphus) oreas_, =Reichenb.= Säug. iii. p. 142 (1845).

_Antilope (Boselaphus) oreas_, =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 201
(1816); =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. Journ. ii. p. 222 (1834); =Less.=
Compl. Buff. x. p. 302 (1836); =Wagn.= Sehr. Säug., Suppl. iv. p.
465 (1844).

_Antilope (Addax) oreas_, =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. p. 620
(1861).

_Antilope (Oreas) oreas_, =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 471 (1822); =Schinz=,
Nat. Abbild. Säug. p. 301, pl. cxxvii. (1827); =id.= Mon. Antil. p.
45, pl. 1. (1848); =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 181 (1842).

_Antilope (Taurotragus) oreas_, =Wagn.= Schr. Säug., Suppl. v. p. 439
(1855).

_Cerophorus (Boselaphus) oreas_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom. 1816, p.
75.

_Damalis (Boselaphus) oreas_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. v. p. 364 (1827).

_Damalis oreas_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. v. p. 355, pl. (1827); =Sund.=
K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. lxv. p. 199 (1846); =id.= Hornsch. Transl., Arch.
Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 150; Reprint, p. 74 (1848).

_Boselaphus oreas_, =Smuts=, En. Mamm. Cap. p. 90 (1832); =Harris=,
Wild Anim. S. Afr. p 24, pl. vi. (1840); =Gerv.= Dict. Sci. Nat.,
Suppl. i. p. 267 (1840); =Jard.= Nat. Libr. xxii., Mamm. p. 177, pl.
xix. (1845); =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 155 (1843); =id.= Cat. Ost.
B. M. p. 59 (1847); =id.= Knowsl. Menag. pls. i. & ii. (1850); =A.
Sm.= Ill. Zool. S. Afr. pls. xl. & xli. (1859); =Fitz.= SB. Ak.
Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 179 (1869); =Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 245, fig.
(1880) (_Busephalus_).

_Cemas alces_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Nat. iii. p. 735 (1816)

_Damalis canna_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 357 (1827).

_Damalis (Boselaphus) canna_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. v. p. 365 (1827).

_Antilope (Oreas) canna_, =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 471 (1822); =Less.=
Man. Mamm. p. 384 (1827).

_Boselaphus canna_, =Smuts=, En. Mamm. Cap. p. 91 (1832); =Gray=, List
Mamm. B. M. p. 155 (1843).

_Antilope (Boselaphus) canna_, =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. Journ. ii. p.
223 (1834).

_Antilope (Buselaphus) canna_, =Reichenb.= Säug. iii. p. 145 (1845).

_Oreas canna_, =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 143; =id.= Ann. & Mag. Nat.
Hist. (2) viii. p. 225 (1851); =id.= Knowsl. Menag. p. 27 (1850);
=id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 134, pl. xvii. figs. 3, 4 (1852); =Gerr.=
Cat. Bones B. M. p. 244 (1862); =Wood=, Ill. Nat. Hist. i. p. 665,
fig. (1862); =Kirk=, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 659; =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M.
p. 47 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. p. 118 (1873); =Flower=, P. Z. S.
1875, p. 186 (skull char.); =Buckley=, P. Z. S. 1876, pp. 284–292;
=Garrod=, P. Z. S. 1877, p. 4 _et seq_. (anatomy); =Max Schmidt=, P.
Z. S. 1880, p. 307 (duration of life); =Selous=, P. Z. S. 1881, p.
749; =id.= Hunter’s Wand. p. 204 (1881); =Scl.= List An. Z. S. 1883,
p. 138, 1896, p. 160; =Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Ost. Coll. Surg. p. 258
(1884); =Bryden=, Kloof and Karroo, p. 291 (1889); =Scl.= fil. Cat.
Mamm. Calc. Mus. p. 152 (1891); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mammals, p. 348
(1891); =Nicolls & Eglington=, Sportsm. in S. Afr. p. 54 (1892);
=Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 165 (1892), p. 211 (1896); =Lyd.= Horns and
Hoofs, p. 258 (1893); =id.= Royal Nat. Hist. ii. p. 269, fig.
(1894); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1896, p. 506; =Pousargues=, Ann. Sci. Nat.
iv. p. 81 (1897); =Trouess.= Cat. Mamm. ii. pt. 4, p. 962 (1898).

_Oreas oreas_, =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p.
140 (1887); =id.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 172
(1892).

_Antilope triangularis_, =Günther=, P. Z. S. 1889, p. 73 (Zambesi);
=Scl.= P. Z. S. 1896, p. 506.

_Doratoceros triangularis_, =Lyd.= Field, lxxviii. p. 130 (1891);
=id.= Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) viii. p. 192 (1891); =id.= Horns
and Hoofs, p. 260 (1893).

Subspecies _b._ Taurotragus oryx livingstonii.

_New or Striped Variety of the Eland_, =Livingstone=, Missionary
Travels, p. 210 (cum fig.) (1857).

_Striped Eland_, =Baldwin=, Afr. Hunting, p. 384 (1863).

_Oreas livingstonii_, =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1864, p. 105; =Kirk=, P. Z. S.
1864, p. 659; =Selous=, P. Z. S. 1883, p. 32; =Pousargues=, Ann.
Sci. Nat. iv. p. 81 (1897).

_Oreas livingstoni_, =Rendall=, Novitat. Zool. v. p. 213 (1898).

_Oreas canna livingstoni_, =Jacks.= Big Game Shooting (Badm. Libr.),
pp. 285–286 (1894); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1895, p. 690 (skull); =id.= List
of An. (9) p. 160 (1896); =Jacks.= P. Z. S. 1897, p. 456; =Thomas=,
P. Z. S. 1898, p. 394; =Trouess.= Cat. Mamm. ii. pt. 4, p. 962
(1898).

_Oreas oreas_ and _O. livingstoni_, =Matsch.= Säug. Deutsch-Ost-Afr.
p. 141, fig. 73 (1895); =id.= in Werther’s Die mittl. Hochländ.
Deutsch-Ost-Afr. p. 259, figs. 31 & 32, & p. 260 (1898).

_Antilope (Taurotragus) livingstonii_, =Heugl.= Reise Weiss. Nil, p.
319 (1869).

_Taurotragus oreas livingstonii_, =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1893, p. 507.

_Taurotragus oryx livingstoni_, =Lyd., Sharpe, & Jackson=, in Ward’s
Great and Small Game of Afr. pp. 421–439 (1899).

_Antilope (Damalis) oreas_, =Peters=, Reise n. Mossamb., Säug. p. 192
(1852).

_Oreas canna_, =Hunter=, in Willoughby’s E. Afr. p. 287 (1889);
=Thomas=, P. Z. S. 1893, p. 504, 1894, p. 145, 1896, p. 797 (Brit.
Centr. Afr.); =Lugard=, Rise E. Afr. Emp. p. 529 (1893); =Bocage=,
P. Z. S. 1878, p. 745; id. J. Sci. Lisboa, ii. p. 25 (1890)
(Angola); =Crawshay=, P. Z. S. 1890, p. 658 (Nyasaland).

_Oreas derbii_, =Johnst.= River Congo, p. 391 (1884) (?).

Subspecies _c._ Taurotragus oryx gigas.

_Alces oreas_, =Schweinf.= Im Herz. Afr. i. p. 387 (1874).

_Antilope oreas_, =id.= ibid. ii. pp. 264–266 (horns).

_Taurotragus (Bosephalus) oreas_, =Heugl.= N. Act. Leop. xxx. p. 19
(1863); =id.= Reise Weiss. Nil, p. 319 (1869).

_Taurotragus (Boselaphus) gigas_, =Heugl.= N. Act. Leop. xxx. p. 19,
pl. i. fig. 2 (1863); =id.= Reise Weiss. Nil, p. 318 (1869); =Fitz.=
SB. Ak. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 179 (1869).

Vernacular Names:—_Eland_ of the Dutch at the Cape; _Canna_ or
_Tiganna_ of the Hottentots; _Pohu_ of the Bachapins (_Burchell_).
_Pofo_ of the Bechuanas; _Impofo_ of the Amandabele, Zulu, and
Kafirs; _Ee-pofo_ of the Makalakas; _Insefo_ of the Masubias and
Batongas; _Doo_ of the Masurwa Bushmen; _Mofo_ of the Mashunas
(_Selous_). _Sofu_ and _Nchefoo_ in Nyasaland (_Sharpe_). _Mpofu_
(Swaheli); _Musu_ in Siruwa, B.E.A. (_Jackson_). _Qualqual_ (Djeng),
_Adgar_ (Djur), _Newarreh_ (Dor) on the White Nile (_Heuglin_).

Adult male, at the withers, about five feet ten inches or, according to some writers, sometimes considerably over six feet in height. Body, head, legs, and neck of a tolerably uniform tawny colour, but often assuming a slaty-grey hue in old age, owing to the rubbing off of the hair and the consequent exposure of the skin beneath. Frontal mat of hairs varying from yellowish brown to black, apparently becoming darker with age; nose generally ashy black; lips and chin white. Ears narrow and pointed, of a uniform greyish-fawn tint, with at most a small black patch on the lower rim in front. A narrow black spinal stripe, extending from the withers to the base of the tail. Tail-tuft and tuft of hair on the dewlap black. Legs like the body, but, on the inner side, sometimes with a greyish patch above the knee on the pasterns; back of the pasterns and narrow rim above the hoofs and false hoofs black.

Horns about 30 inches or more in length.

_Female_ like the male in colouring, but smaller and more slightly built; the horns thinner, less strongly crested, and less twisted, but usually longer and (exceptionally) reaching a length of 34 inches.

The subspecies _T. o. livingstonii_ is generally similar to the typical form, but has the coat of a ruddier fawn-colour, and is ornamented on each side of the body and hind-quarters with from about eight to eleven narrow vertical white stripes: these are strong upon the flanks and faint upon the haunches; they commence from the black spinal stripe and gradually fade away upon the belly and lower part of the thighs. In the typical form, moreover, there is a large black patch on the inner and posterior side of the fore leg above the knee. Horns reaching about 32 inches.

_Female_ differing from the male in the same respects as in _T. o. typicus_.

The subspecies _T. o. gigas_ is based on a pair of horns obtained by Heuglin on the White Nile, and distinguished by their large size, great length (35 inches), and strong corrugations. From Schweinfurth’s observations we learn that this form carries well-marked body-stripes throughout life, sometimes 15 in number. In these two respects it would seem to approach _Taurotragus derbianus_, but Schweinfurth says nothing about the black neck of the last species.

_Hab._ South Africa, from the Cape Colony (where it is now
extinct) to Angola on the west and to the Transvaal and Mozambique
on the east, and thence up to the Zambesi; at its northern limits
passing into the striped form (_T. o. livingstonii_), which
extends throughout Eastern Africa up to and rather beyond Mount
Kenia; also found on the White Nile and in the adjacent districts
(_T. o. gigas_).

At the close of the long series of Antelopes we arrive at the largest and finest form of the whole group, and one, moreover, that might well become of great economical importance to mankind, if proper measures were taken for its acclimatization.

The “Eland,” as it is now universally called, was well known to the early settlers of the Cape, where it received its name from some fancied resemblance to the Elk (_Alces machlis_), which is the “Eland” of the Hollanders and the “Elenn” or “Elendthier” of the Germans. It must have been size, we suppose, more than any other point of similarity, that induced the Dutchmen to apply such an unsuitable name to this animal.

The old traveller Peter Kolben, about 1719, gave the first recognizable, though rather misleading, account of the Eland, which at that epoch was still found in the mountains near Capetown. In 1764 Buffon, in the twelfth volume of his ‘Histoire Naturelle,’ called it “Le Coudous,” or, at any rate, gave unmistakable figures of its horns under that name, which, we suppose, he had by some error transposed to it from the Kudu (_Strepsiceros capensis_). It was mainly upon Kolben’s _Alces capensis_ and Buffon’s “_Coudous_” that Pallas, in his first essay on the genus _Antilope_ (1776), based his _Antilope_ _oryx_, alleging that it “seemed to be” the _Antilope oryx_ of ancient authors! At the same time he states that he had examined a complete skeleton of this animal in the Museum of Prince William of Holland. Very unfortunately, in his second and amended list of the Antelopes, Pallas proposed to make a change in his former names by transferring the term “_oryx_” to another animal (the _Antilope bezoartica_ of his first memoir) and assigning the new name “_oreas_” to the Eland. This change, however, we may say, has been generally acquiesced in, and the name _oreas_ has been almost universally applied to the Eland, either specifically or generically, until modern days, when the zealous searchers after priority have resuscitated Pallas’s long-forgotten term “_oryx_.” This, indeed, seems certainly to be the earliest specific name applicable to the present animal and should, in strict justice, be adopted.

As regards its generic name the Eland has been equally unfortunate. Desmarest, in 1822, first proposed to use “_Oreas_” as a subgeneric term for this form; and Gray, in 1850, employed it as a genus, combining it with the specific term “_canna_,” so that the name of the Eland became _Oreas canna_. As will be seen by our list of synonyms, this name was generally adopted, and has been in constant use for the present species for the last twenty years. We have, however, shown that “_oreas_,” as a specific term, must give place to “_oryx_”; and in like manner “_Oreas_” cannot stand as a generic term for the present animal, because it has been previously employed in zoology as a genus of Lepidoptera (1806) and as a genus of Mollusca (1808), both of which antedate Desmarest’s use of it in 1822. Under these circumstances it is necessary to adopt the next given name, _Taurotragus_ of Wagner, and the correct scientific name of the Eland, according to modern usage, will be _Taurotragus oryx_.

Having now stated at full length our reasons for the unwelcome but necessary change of name of this Antelope, we will resume our comments on its literary history.

In the Supplement to his ‘Histoire Naturelle,’ published in 1782, Buffon was able to give an improved account of the Eland. This was mostly copied from Allamand’s article inserted in Schneider’s edition of the ‘Histoire Naturelle,’ issued at Amsterdam in the previous year, and was accompanied by a perfectly recognizable figure of the whole animal under the name of “Le Canna,” adopted from its supposed Hottentot appellation. Shortly afterwards (1783) Vosmaer, in a number of his ‘Regnum Animale,’ published a full description and coloured figure of the Eland from a specimen then living in the Menagerie of the Prince of Orange in Holland, probably the same as that from which Allamand had taken his information. Sparrman, who visited the Cape about this period, also gave a good account of the structure and habits of this Antelope, as observed by him in the Alexandria and Somerset-East Divisions of the Colony. Paterson, in 1790, recorded having met with Elands in Caledon, as also in the Van-Ryndorp and Uitenhage Divisions a few years previously. Thunberg, another well-known traveller and naturalist (1795), found the Eland in Uniondale, and Lichtenstein in Calvinia, Aberdeen, and Middelburg (1803–4). Our countryman Burchell, as recorded in his ‘Travels,’ came across Elands in 1822, in Prieska, Herbert, and Britstown, and found them numerous in Hanover.

We may now pass on to the days of Harris, whose celebrated hunting-expedition into the interior took place in 1836 and 1837. Even at that date the Eland was pronounced to be extinct in the Cape Colony, but was met with in abundance on the banks of the Vaal River, where Harris feasted himself and his followers on its succulent meat.

By all classes in Africa, Harris writes, the flesh of the Eland is deservedly esteemed over that of any other animal:

“Both in grain and color it resembles beef, but is far better
tasted and more delicate, possessing a pure game flavor, and
exhibiting the most tempting looking layers of fat and lean—the
surprising quantity of the former ingredient with which it is
interlarded exceeding that of any other game-quadruped with which
I am acquainted. The venison fairly melts in the mouth; and as for
the brisket, that is absolutely a cut for a monarch.”

It is right, however, to mention that other experienced authorities do not altogether agree with Harris’s pronouncement on this subject. Mr. Selous, for example, states his opinion that the flesh of the Eland has been “very much over-estimated,” and is “not to be compared in flavour with that of the Buffalo, Giraffe, Hippopotamus, and White Rhinoceros.” (_De gustibus non est disputandum_!)

Harris describes the favourite haunts of the Eland on the Vaal River in his days as follows:—

“The Eland frequents the open prairies and low rocky hills
interspersed with clumps of wood, but is never to be met with in a
continuously wooded country. Rejoicing especially in low belts of
shaded hillocks, and in the isolated groves of _Acacia capensis_
which, like islands in the ocean, are scattered over many of the
stony and gravelly plains of the interior, large herds of them are
also to be seen grazing like droves of oxen on the more verdant
meadows, through which some silver rivulet winds in rainbow
brightness betwixt fringes of sighing bulrushes. Fat and lethargic
groups may be seen scattered up and down the gentle acclivities,
some grazing on the hill side, and others lazily basking in the
morning sunbeam. Advancing they appear to move like a regiment of
cavalry in single files, the goodliest bulls leading the van;
whereas during a retreat these it is that uniformly bring up the
rear. As the day dawned over the boundless meads of the Vaal River
spread with a rich carpet of luxuriant herbage, and enamelled with
pastures of brilliant flowers, vast droves of these lordly animals
were constantly to be seen moving in solemn procession across the
profile of the silent and treeless landscape, portions of which
were often covered with long coarse grass, which when dry and
waving its white hay-like stalks to the breeze, imparted to the
plain the delusive and alluring appearance of ripe cornfields.”

Since Harris issued his work in 1840 all the writers on the game-animals of Southern Africa have devoted more or less space to the Eland. Delagorgue, who published his travels in 1847, found this Antelope in plenty in Zululand. Methuen, in his ‘Life in the Wilderness’ (1848), describes its habits in the Kalahari Desert, and Livingstone (1857) alludes to the Eland as being able to exist without water, and states that one may see hundreds of them in places thirty or forty miles distant from that element. The Hon. W. H. Drummond, in his ‘Rough Notes on the Large Game of South Africa,’ has devoted a whole chapter to the pursuit of the Eland, which he met with on the Black and White Umvalosi Rivers, and in other districts, but not within the Colony itself, in which, according to Bryden, it became extinct between 1840 and 1850, having probably lingered longer in the waterless deserts of Bushman’s Land than in any other locality.

Finally, Mr. H. A. Bryden, writing in 1897, in his ‘Nature and Sport in South Africa,’ on the rapidly disappearing forms of South-African game, laments the noblest of all the Antelopes of the world as taking the lead in this sad progress. At the present time, he says, one must go far north into the parched and pathless recesses of the Upper Kalahari before the “vanishing Eland” can be reached, and “even in these unexplored wilds these rare creatures can nowadays be scarcely considered safe.” Mr. Bryden proceeds to describe the progress of its extermination now going on as follows:—