head rises a crest of bristles which pass upward and along the edge of the neck. The legs are short and like those of an ox, with large hind quarters, and the tail is about two feet three or four inches long, tufted on the end with coarse brown hair. The hide of the eland is black, but the general color of the short hair which covers it is a sort of ashy gray tinged with ochre.

Except for the watchfulness and quickness of this animal, it is not hard to hunt. If an approach can be made on horseback up the wind in some sort of shelter from view, it is not difficult in good country to ride them down. If the going is bad, however, it is better to shoot on foot, and in this case the huntsman must take every precaution not to alarm the game, and even with the greatest care many disappointments must be expected. Very often, just as the hunter is preparing to shoot, an incautious movement will alarm the game and they will go off like the wind, and the stalk must be made over again.

The Koodoo.-Continuing the antelopes, we come to the koodoo. Majestic in its carriage and brilliant in its color, this species may with propriety be termed the king of the tribe. Other antelopes are stately, elegant or curious-but the solitude-seeking koodoo is absolutely regal! The ground color is a lively French gray approaching blue, with several transverse white bands passing over the back and loins; a copious mane and deeply fringed, tricolored dewlap setting off a pair of ponderous yet symmetrical horns, spirally twisted and exceeding three feet in length, brown in color, and the tips black with a white point. These are thrown along the back as the stately wearer dashes through the mazes of the forest or clambers the mountain side. The old bulls are invariably found apart from the females, which herd together in small groups and are destitute of horns. A full grown male stands upwards of five feet high at the shoulder and is over nine feet in extreme length. This beautiful animal is found chiefly in thickets and on wooded hills. The female koodoo is slighter, hornless and with fewer white markings. This species, as may well be imagined, is very attractive to the hunter and naturalist.

Of the remaining large antelopes we must speak more briefly. An interesting one is the hartebeest, otherwise known as the red kongoni and as the caama. It is of bright orange color and the eyes

are fiery red in hue. A peculiarity is that the horns are placed on the very summit of the head, on a prolongation of the frontal bone, instead of above the eyes, as in the other antelopes. A male hartebeeste stands about five feet high at the withers and is about nine feet long. A closely related species is the sassaby, of about the same size and with strong horns worn in the same manner.

An interesting species of the larger antelopes is the waterbuck, a creature of the size of an ass, but browner in color. It is a stately animal, with ponderous, overhanging horns, three feet long, ringed and almost vertical, the points coming to the front. The flesh of this animal is so coarse and ill-flavored that even the savages refuse to eat it.

One of the most beautiful, and most sought by the sportsman, among these creatures is the sable antelope. It is about four and a half feet high and nearly nine feet long, has a bushy mane and flat horns three feet long, curving in crescent shape over the back. The roan antelope-so called from its color-is as large as a horse and heavily built, with recurved horns with numerous rings. It lacks speed and can be easily ridden down, but is apt to charge viciously and put horse and rider both in danger..

Of the smaller antelopes an interesting one is the oryx or gemsbok, which stands less than four feet high and has long, straight, sharp horns more than three feet long. It knows well how to use these, charging the hunter viciously, while it not infrequently kills the lion with a thrust of its formidable horns.

A smaller species, the springbok, gets its name from the extraordinary leaps it makes when alarmed. The pallah, one of the forest-loving antelopes, is notable for its knotted and oddly twisted horns, of extraordinary size. It stands very high on its legs and moves with extreme grace. The bushbok is also a forest-haunter, as its name indicates, and differs in form from antelopes in general, approaching the goat in aspect.

We are now among the smaller antelopes, which are numerous in species, far too much so to be mentioned here. The smallest species are those known as gazelles, some of which are remarkable for beauty and grace. Least of all is the pretty little kleenbok,

about fifteen inches high and twenty-eight long, which is found in the forests along the sea-shore. Outside of Africa the best known antelopes are the chamois of the European Alps, the beautiful Asiatic gazelles and the prong-horn antelopes of the western United States.

CHAPTER XXXII

The Lion and Other Beasts of Prey

'HE Lion.-There is a highly important class of animals which

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are well known both in the wild and tame state and of which we speak as Beasts of Prey, because they feed on living things, which they are able to capture by their great strength and cunning. The scientific name for this group is Carnivora or Flesh Eaters. Among these are placed the animals belonging to the Cat Tribe, which includes the lion, the leopard, and many others of lesser size. Other families of the beast of prey type include dogs, hyenas, and wolves. Of these the hyena is peculiar to Africa. The most important member of this family from the point of view of all hunters in the African wilds, is the lion. Its mate in ferocity, the tiger, is not found in Africa.

This much-sought beast is a native of Africa and Southwestern Asia, but in both continents is being driven back by the advance of civilization. The lion is distinguished from all other cats by the presence of a large, thick mane in the adult male. A full-grown animal will measure rather more than eight feet from the nose to the end of the tail, which counts for nearly half, and is furnished at the end with a tuft of hair, in the center of which is a small horny prickle the use of which is unknown. The lion certainly does not employ it, as was once thought, to excite himself to fury by pricking his sides with it when he lashes his tail. The lioness is smaller than her mate and without a mane. She bears from two to four cubs at a litter, which native hunters often steal to sell to the dealers in wild beasts who supply the menageries, for the capture of a full-grown lion is rarely effected. The sire and dam both watch over their young, and train them to hunt prey. Thus young lions are more destructive than old ones; the former kill for the sake of killing, the latter only to satisfy hunger and provide for their mates and her cubs.

Lions generally lie in wait for their prey, concealed in the reeds near some place where other animals come to drink, and then, springing from their lair, leap upon the victim, striking it down with the paws. The neck is usually broken with a violent wrench of the powerful jaws, and the carcass is carried off to be devoured at leisure. The lion does not disdain the flesh of animals killed by the hunter. Gordon Cumming frequently saw lions feeding on antelopes that had

fallen by his rifle; and Stevens, who was sent by the New York Herald to find Stanley, saw three "bunched up inside the capacious carcass of a rhinoceros, and feeding off the foulest carrion imaginable." When pressed by hunger the lion will approach a native village by night and carry off goats and calves, but fires and torches will scare him away.

The lion has been called the king of beasts, and a good deal has