These are two feet in length, and marked by a ridge that passes spirally around them nearly to the tips.

The horns of the female are longer than those of the male.
The eyes of the eland, like those of most antelopes, are large, bright, and melting, without any expression of fierceness; and the animal, though so very large and strong, is of the most innocuous disposition-- showing fight only when driven to desperation.
The general colour of this antelope is dun, with a rufous tinge.
Sometimes ashy grey touched with ochre is the prevailing hue.
The eland is one of those antelopes that appear to be independent of water.

It is met with upon the desert plains, far from either spring or stream; and it even seems to prefer such situations--perhaps from the greater security it finds there--though it is also a denizen of the fertile and wooded districts.

It is gregarious, the sexes herding separately, and in groups of from ten to a hundred individuals.
The flesh of the eland is highly esteemed, and does not yield in delicacy to that of any of the antelope, deer, or bovine tribes.

It has been compared to tender beef with a _game flavour_; and the muscles of the thighs when cured and dried produce a _bonne bouche_, known under the odd appellation of "thigh-tongues." Of course the eland affording such excellent meat, and in so large a quantity, is zealously hunted for his spoils.