Even the very desert has its antelopes, that prefer the parched and waterless plain to the most fertile and verdant valley.
Of all antelopes the "eland," or "caana" (_Antelope oreas_) is the largest.

It measures full seventeen hands at the shoulder--being thus equal in height to a very large horse.

A large eland weighs one thousand pounds.

It is a heavily formed animal, and an indifferent runner, as a mounted hunter can gallop up to one without effort.

Its general proportions are not unlike those of a common ox, but its horns are straight and rise vertically from the crown, diverging only slightly from one another.