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Show 750 MR. F. C SELOUS ON AFRICAN ANTELOPES. [J Secheli's and Bamangwato it is plentiful, but never now comes as far eastwards as the waggon-road between those two places. North of Bamangwato, along the roads leading to the Lake Ngami and to the Victoria Falls of the Zambesi, there are always a few Elands to be found, though they are usually very scarce; at times, however, large herds wander out of the Kalahari desert, as far eastwards as the waggon-road leading from Bamangwato to the Zambesi. These migrations usually happen in the months of February and March ; and the Bushmen say that they are to be accounted for by the fact that at that time of year a particular sort of small bush is in leaf, of which Elands are very fond. In all the country between the Botletlie and Chobe rivers, Elands are still to be found in greater or lesser numbers, and I have often seen herds of over a hundred together. In the dry desert country through which the Chobe runs they are particularly plentiful. Again, if we take the country further eastwards, Elands are still to be found inconsiderable numbers to the north-east, east, and south-east of the district inhabited by the Amandebele, and in many parts with which I am acquainted are very plentiful. In the broken mountainous country extending all along the Zambesi eastwards, from the Victoria Falls to beyond the river Gwai, I never saw any Elands or their spoor; but in the sandy country immediately to the south they are fairly plentiful. Between the Chobe and Zambesi rivers I found Eland splentiful; and so far as I went to the north of the Zambesi I also found them. The skins of Elands that I have seen from the Kalahari desert have no signs of a stripe upon them, and the dark mark above the knee on the inside of the fore leg is either very faint or altogether wanting. In April 1879 I shot several Eland cows about 60 miles north of Bamangwato, on the road to Lake Ngami. I looked at all of them very carefully, but could not detect the faintest sign of a stripe, though some of them had the patches on the inside of the fore legs of a light grey colour. During the following months I shot many Elands on the eastern bank of the Botletlie river, on the Mababe, and on both sides of the Chobe river. Every one of these Elands was more or less striped, some so faintly as to be barely perceptible, some very plainly. In the Mashuna country again, to the north-east of the Matabele country, every Eland cow is very plainly striped, many of them having the stripes quite as plain as they are on a Koodoo, and the patches on the inside of the fore legs of a deep black. The one Eland (a cow) which I shot to the north of the Zambesi was beautifully marked, having nine broad white stripes on each side, and a broad black line down the centre of the back. Elands that are much striped often have a whitish mark across the nose, in the same place as in the Koodoo. Old Eland bulls have very little hair on their skins, and look a dark slaty blue colour, owing to the colour of the skin showing through the scanty hair ; and on these old animals, naturally enough, no sign of stripes can be perceived. Old cows also turn to a slate-colour from the same cause. In every large herd of Elands, cows are to be seen of every shade of colour from pale fawn to bluish grey. |