and on the head, back, and outside of the limbs, the hair is darker than on any other part; the orbits of the eyes are white, and there is a small patch of the same color on each side of the forehead; the tail is short. The horns, which are about sixteen inches long, are black, distinctly annulated almost to the top, and have three curves; the brachia, or sides of the lyre, were frequently made of these horns, as appears from ancient gems. The female is destitute of horns, and may also be known by a white stripe on the flanks.

The race of antelopes is famous for the concretion known by the name of bezoar. This word is supposed to be derived from the Arabic language, where it signifies antidote or counter-poison. It is found in the stomach and intestines of many animals, and brought over principally from the East Indies. Like all other animal concretions, it is found to have a kind of nucleus, or hard substance within, upon which the external coatings are formed; for, upon being sawn through, it seems to have layer over layer, as an onion.

This nucleus is of various kinds; sometimes the buds of a shrub, sometimes pieces of flint, stones of plums, tamarinds, seeds of cassia, and sometimes a marcasite. The stone itself varies from the size of an acorn to that of a pigeon's egg; and the larger it is, the more valuable it is reckoned-its price increasing like that of a diamond. There was a time when a stone of this kind, weighing four ounces, sold in Europe for above two hundred pounds; but at present the price is greatly fallen, and they are in very little esteem. The bezoar is of various colors, sometimes of a blood color, sometimes of a pale yellow, and of all the shades between these two. It is generally glossy, smooth, and has a fragrant smell, like that of ambergris. It has been given in vertigoes, epilepsies, palpitations of the heart, colic, and jaundice; and in those places where the dearness, and not the value of medicines, is consulted, in almost every disorder incident to man. In all cases it is perhaps equally efficacious, acting only as an absorbent

power, and possessing virtues not superior to common chalk, or crabs' claws. Judicious physicians have, therefore, discarded it: and this celebrated medicine is now chiefly consumed in countries where the knowledge of nature has been but little advanced. When this medicine was in its highest reputation, many arts were used to adulterate it; and many countries endeavored to find out a bezoar of their own.

THE Scythian antelope, or saiga, is the only one of the species that is found in Europe. The general form of its body very much resembles that of the domestic goat; and, like that animal, it has a strong scent, and is fond of salt; but its horns are those of the antelope, being marked by very prominent rings, with furrows between; they are a foot in length, the tips smooth, of a pale yellow color, and semi-transparent. During summer the hair is very short, and of a gray hue, mixed with yellow; the cheeks whitish, forehead and crown hoary, covered with long hairs; the under side of the neck and body white. The winter coat is long and rough; the tail about four inches long, ending with a tuft. It is equal in size to the fallow deer, and the female is destitute of horns.

These animals inhabit all the deserts from the Danube and Dnieper to the river Irtish, but not beyond; they are, therefore, found in Poland, Moldavia, about Mount Caucasus and the Caspian Sea, and in Siberia, in the dreary open deserts, where salt springs abound, feeding on the salt, and the acrid and aromatic plants of those countries. The females are in a state of gestation during the winter, and bring forth in May, in the northern deserts. They have but one at a time; and the young are covered with a soft fleece like a newly dropped lamb. They are regularly migratory; late in autumn, in the rutting season, they collect in flocks of thousands, and retire into the southern deserts; in spring they separate into little flocks, and return northward. They rarely all lie down at the same time, but by a providential instinct, some are always keeping watch; and when they are tired, they seemingly give notice to those which have taken their rest, who instantly arise and relieve the sentinels of the preceding hours; and thus they often preserve themselves from the attacks of wolves and huntsmen. They are exceedingly swift, and will outrun the fleetest horse or greyhound; yet, partly through timidity, and partly on account of the shortness of their breath, they very soon become the prey of the hunter. If they are but bitten by a dog, they instantly fall down; nor will they even offer to rise again. They are sometimes shot by the hunter; and are also taken by the

1 Antilope saiga, DESM.

black eagle, which is trained for that purpose. In summer they are almost purblind, which is another cause of their destruction. This is occasioned by the heat of the sun, and the splendor of the yellow deserts, where they live in a wild state. They seem to have no voice, yet when brought up tame, the young utter a short kind of bleating, like the sheep.

THE GAZELLE.1

Of all the animals in the world, the gazelle has the most beautiful eye, extremely brilliant, and yet so meek, that all the eastern poets compare the eyes of their mistresses to those of this animal. The epithet of gazelleeyed is considered the highest compliment that a lover can pay; and, indeed, the Greeks themselves thought it no inelegant piece of flattery to compare the eyes of a beautiful woman to those of a cow.

The gazelle is, for the most part, more delicately and finely limbed than even the roebuck; its hair is as short, but finer and more glossy. The hinder legs of some of the species are longer than the fore ones, as in the hare, which gives it greater security in ascending and descending steep places. In swiftness it equals, if not surpasses, the roe, running and springing with vast bounds, and leaping with surprising elasticity. It frequently stops for a moment in the midst of its course to gaze at its pursuers, and then resumes its flight. The fleetness of the antelope, indeed, was proverbial in the country it inhabited, even in the earliest times; hence the speed of Ashuel (2 Sam. ii. 18) is beautifully compared to the tzebi; and the Gradites were said to be as swift as the antelopes (translated roes) upon the mountains.

Most of these animals are brown on the back and white under the belly, with a black stripe separating those colors. Their tail is of various lengths, but in all is covered with rather long hair; and their ears are beautiful, well placed, and terminating in a point. They all have cloven hoofs, like the

1 Antilope dorcas, LIN.

sheep; horns (as before observed) hollow, curiously curved, annulated with prominent rings or spirals, and not deciduous.

They bound with such swiftness, and are generally so very shy, that dogs or men vainly attempt to pursue them. With ease and safety they traverse those precipices which, to every other quadruped, are quite impracticable; nor can some of them be overtaken by any animals but those of the winged kind. Accordingly, in those countries where the fleetest are chiefly found, they are pursued by falcons; and this admirable manner of hunting forms one of the principal amusements of the higher ranks of people all over the East: The Arabians, Persians, and Turks, employ for this purpose that kind of hawk called the falcon gentle, with which, when properly trained, they go forth on horseback among the forests and the mountains, the falcon perching upon the hand of the hunter. Their expedition is conducted with profound silence; their dogs are taught to keep behind, while the men, on the fleetest coursers, look round for the game. Whenever they spy a gazelle at the proper distance, they point it out to the falcon, and encourage the bird to pursue it. With the swiftness of an arrow the falcon flies to the animal, which, conscious of its danger, endeavors, but too late, to escape. The falcon soon coming up with its prey, fixes its talons, one into the animal's cheek and the other in its throat, and deeply wounds it. On the other hand, the gazelle attempts to escape, but is generally wounded too deeply to run far. The falcon clings with the utmost perseverance, nor ever leaves its prey till it falls; upon which the hunters from behind approaching, take up both, and reward the falcon with the blood of the spoil. They also teach the young birds, by applying them to the dead animal's throat, and accustoming them betimes to fix upon that particular part; for if it should happen that the falcon fixed upon any other part of the gazelle, either its back or its haunches, the animal would easily escape among the mountains, and the hunter would also lose his falcon.

They sometimes hunt these animals with the ounce. This carnivorous and fierce creature, having been tamed and domesticated, generally sits on horseback behind the hunter, and remains there with the utmost composure, until the gazelle is shown. It is then that it exerts all its arts and fierceness; it does not at once fly at its prey, but approaches slily, turning and winding about until it comes within a proper distance, when all at once it bounds upon the animal, and instantly kills it and sucks its blood. If, on the other hand, it misses its aim, it rests in its place without attempting to pursue it any farther, seemingly ashamed of its own inability.

There is still another way of taking the gazelle, which seems not so certain nor so amusing as either of the former. A tame gazelle is trained for this purpose, which is taught to join those of its kind wherever it perceives them. When the hunter, therefore, sees a herd of these animals together, he fixes a noose round the horns of the tame gazelle in such a manner, that if the rest but touch it they are entangled; and thus prepared, he sends his

gazelle among the rest. No sooner does the tame animal approach, than the males of the herd instantly sally forth to oppose him; and in butting with their horns, are caught in the noose, when both struggling for some time, fall together to the ground; till at last the hunter comes up, disengages the one, and kills the other.

Upon the whole, however, these animals, whatever be the arts used to pursue them, are very difficult to be taken; for, as they are continually subject to alarms from carnivorous beasts, or from man, they keep chiefly in the most solitary and inaccessible places, and find their only protection from the dangerousness of the spot whither they retreat.

THE predominant color of this animal is a pale yellowish brown; the belly, breast, and inside of the limbs, are white; as is also the head, excepting a dark brown list, which passes from each corner of the mouth, over the eyes, to the base of the horns. From the tail, half way up the back, is a stripe of white, bounded on each side by a dark brown list, and a stripe of the same color extends on each side, from the shoulders to the haunches, forming a contrasting boundary between the snowy whiteness of the belly, and the rusty color of the sides. The tail is very slender, not being thicker than a goose quill at the lower part, which reaches to nearly the first joint of the leg; the ears are of an ash color, tipped on the edges with fine light gray hairs. The hair in general is short and fine; but the dark line which borders the white consists of longer hairs, which the animal is able to expand at pleasure, to the breadth of eight or nine inches, particularly when