the gnu forms a graceful link between the buffalo and the antelope; possessing the distinct features which, according to naturalists, are peculiar to the latter tribe. The gnu exhibits at the same time, in his general aspect, figure, motions, and even the texture and taste of his flesh, qualities which partake very strongly of the bovine character. Among other peculiarities, I observed, that, like the buffalo or the ox, he is strangely affected by the sight of scarlet; and it was one of our amusements, when approaching these animals, to hoist a red handkerchief on a pole and to observe them caper about, lashing their flanks with their long tails, and tearing up the ground with their hoofs, as if they were violently excited, and ready to rush down upon us; and then, all at once, when we were about to fire upon them, to see them bound away, and again go prancing round at a safer distance. When wounded, they are reported to be sometimes rather dangerous to the huntsman; but though we shot several at different times, I never witnessed any instance of this. On one occasion, a young one, apparently only a week or two old, whose mother had been shot, followed the huntsmen home, and I attempted to rear it on cow's milk. In a few days it appeared quite as tame as a common calf, and seemed to be thriving; but afterwards, from some unknown cause, it sickened and died. I heard, however, of more than one instance in that part of the colony, where the gnu, thus caught young, had been reared with domestic cattle, and had become so tame as to go regularly out to pasture with the herds, without exhibiting any inclination to resume its natural freedom; but, in consequence of a tendency which the farmers say they evinced to catch, and to communicate to the cattle a dangerous infection, the practice of rearing them as curiosities has been abandoned."

Is of a fawn color in summer and brown in winter; a dark line passes through each eye. Its horns are seven or eight inches long, and hooked at

1 Antilope ruficapra.

the end; the tail is short. This animal inhabits the mountains of Switzerland. It is about the size of a domestic goat, and resembles one in many respects. It is most agreeably lively, and active beyond expression. Its hair is short, like that of the doe.

The young follows the dam for about five months, and sometimes longer, if the hunters or the wolves do not separate them. It is asserted that they live between twenty and thirty years. The flesh of the chamois is good to eat; and some of the fattest afford ten or twelve pounds of suet, which far surpasses that of the goat in solidity and goodness.

The cry of the chamois is not distinctly known; if it has any, it is but faint, and resembling that of a hoarse goat. When they are frightened, or are in danger of any enemy, or some other object not perfectly known to them, they warn the rest of the flock by a kind of hissing noise. It is observable, that the chamois has a very penetrating eye, and its hearing and smell are not less distinguishing. When it finds an enemy near, it stops for a moment, and then in an instant flies off with the utmost speed. When the wind is in its favor, it can smell a human creature for more than half a mile distance. When this happens, therefore, and it cannot see its enemy, but only discovers his approach by the scent, it begins the hissing noise with such force, that the rocks and the forests re-echo with the sound. This hissing continues as long as the breath will permit. In the beginning it is very shrill, and deeper towards the close. This animal then rests a moment, after this alarm, to inspect further into its danger; and, hav. ing confirmed the reality of its suspicion, it commences to hiss by intervals, till it has spread the alarm to a great distance. During this time, it is in the most violent agitation, strikes the ground forcibly with its fore foot, and sometimes with both. It bounds from rock to rock; it turns, and looks round; it turns to the edge of the precipice, and when it has obtained a sight of the enemy, flies from it with all its speed. The hissing of the male is much more acute than that of the female; it is performed through the nostrils, and is, properly, no more than a very strong breath, forced through the nostrils by fixing the tongue to the palate, keeping the teeth nearly shut, the lips open, and a little lengthened. Their agility is wonderful, as they will throw themselves down, across a rock, which is nearly perpendicular, and twenty or thirty feet in height, without a single prop to support their feet. Their motion has, indeed, rather the appearance of flying than of leaping. The chamois feeds upon the best herbage, and chooses the most delicate parts of plants, flowers, and the most tender buds. It is not less delicate with regard to several aromatic herbs, which grow upon the sides of the Alps. It drinks but very little while it feeds upon the succulent herbage, and ruminates, like the goat, in the intervals of feeding. Its head is crowned with two small horns, of about half a foot long, of a beautiful black, and rising from the forehead, almost betwixt the eyes. These horns are often made use

of for the heads of canes. The hides of these animals are very strong and supple, and good warm waistcoats and gloves are made of them.

The hunting of the chamois is very laborious, and extremely difficult and perilous. It is thus admirably described by Saussure:-"The chamois hunter sets out upon his expedition of fatigue and danger generally in the night. His object is to find himself, at the break of day, in the most elevated pastures, where the chamois comes to feed before the flocks shall have arrived there. The chamois feeds only at morning and at evening. When the hunter has nearly reached the spot where he expects to find his prey, he reconnoitres with a telescope. If he find not the chamois, he mounts still higher; but if he discovers him, he endeavors to climb above him and to get nearer, by passing round some ravine, or gliding behind some eminence or rock. When he is near enough to distinguish the horns of the animal, (which are small, round, pointed, and bent backward like a hook, as in the wood cut,) he rests his rifle upon a rock, and takes his aim with great coolness. He rarely misses. This rifle is often double-barrelled. If the chamois falls, the hunter runs to his prey-makes sure of him by cutting the hamstrings-and applies himself to consider by what way he may best regain his village. If the route is very difficult, he contents himself with skinning the chamois; but if the way is at all practicable with a load, he throws the animal over his shoulder, and bears it home to his family, undaunted by the distance he has to go, and the precipices he has

to cross.

"But when, as is more frequently the case, the vigilant animal perceives the hunter, he flies with the greatest swiftness into the glaciers, leaping with incredible speed over the frozen snows and pointed rocks. It is particularly difficult to approach the chamois when there are many together. The sentinel, who is placed on the point of some rock which commands all the avenues of their pasturage, makes the sharp hissing sound already mentioned; at the sound of which all the rest run towards him, to judge for themselves of the nature of the danger. If they discover a beast of prey or a hunter, the most experienced puts himself at their head, and they bound along, one after the other, into the most inaccessible places.

"It is then that the labors of the hunter commence; for then, carried away by the excitement, he knows no danger. He crosses the snows, without thinking of the abysses which they may cover; he plunges into the most dangerous passes of the mountains; he climbs up; he leaps from rock to rock, without considering how he can return. The night often finds him in the heat of the pursuit; but he does not give it up for this obstacle. He considers that the chamois will stop during the darkness, as well as himself, and that on the morrow he may again reach them. He passes, then, the night—not at the foot of a tree, nor in a cave covered with verdure, as does the hunter of the plain-but upon a naked rock, or upon a heap of rough stones, without any sort of shelter. He is alone, without fire, without

light. But he takes from his bag a bit of cheese and some of the barley bread, which is his ordinary food-bread so hard that he is obliged to break it between two stones, or to cleave it with the axe, which he always carries with him to cut steps which shall serve for his ladder up the rocks of ice. His frugal meal being soon ended, he puts a stone under his head, and is presently asleep, dreaming of the way the chamois has taken. He is awakened by the freshness of the morning air; he rises, pierced through with cold; he measures with his eye the precipices he must yet climb to reach the chamois; he drinks a little brandy, (of which he always carries a small provision,) throws his bag across his shoulder, and again rushes forward to encounter new dangers. These daring and persevering hunters often remain whole days in the dreariest solitudes of the glaciers of Chamouni; and, during this time, their families, and, above all, their unhappy wives, feel the keenest alarm for their safety.

"And yet, with the full knowledge of the dangers to be encountered, the chase of the chamois is the object of an insurmountable passion. Saussure knew a handsome young man, of the district of Chamouni, who was about to be married; and the adventurous hunter thus addressed the naturalist :'My grandfather was killed in the chase of the chamois; my father was killed also; and I am so certain that I shall be killed myself, that I call this bag, which I always carry hunting, my winding-sheet. I am sure that I shall have no other; and yet, if you were to offer to make my fortune, upon the condition that I should renounce the chase of the chamois, I should refuse your kindness.' Saussure adds, that he went several journeys in the Alps with this young man; that he possessed astonishing skill and strength, but that his temerity was greater than either; and that, two years afterwards, he met the fate which he had anticipated, by his foot failing on the brink of a precipice to which he had leaped.

"The very few individuals of those who grow old in this trade, bear on their countenances the traces of the life which they have led. They have a wild, and somewhat haggard and desperate air, by which they may be recognized in the midst of a crowd. Many of the superstitious peasants believe that they are sorcerers; that they have commerce with the evil spirit; and that it is he that throws them over the precipices."

THE IBE X1

OR wild goat, exactly resembles the domestic goat, in the conformation, the organization, and the natural and physical habits. It only varies by

1 Capra iber, LIN. The genus Capra has eight lower and no upper incisors; no canines; twelve upper and twelve lower molars. Horns common to both sexes, directed upwards and backwards, striated transversely; no muzzle; interval between the nostrils naked; no lachrymal sinus or inguinal pores; ears pointed; legs robust; tail short; chin bearded.

two slight differences, the one externally, and the other internally. The horns of the ibex are longer than those of the he-goat; they have two longitudinal ridges, those of the goat have but one. They have also thick knots, or transverse tubercles, which mark the number of years of their growth; while those of the goats are only marked with transverse strokes. The ibex runs as fast as the stag, and leaps lighter than the roebuck. They are liable to vertigos, which are common to them with the chamois, as well as the inclination to climb up rocks; and still another custom, which is that of continually licking the stones, especially those which are strongly impregnated with salt-petre, or common salt. In the Alps, there are rocks which have been hollowed by the tongue of the chamois. These are commonly soft and calcinable stones, in which, as is well known, there is always a certain quantity of nitre.

The male ibex differs from the chamois, by the length, the thickness, and the form of the horns; it is also much more bulky, vigorous, and strong. The female ibex has horns different from the male; they are also much smaller, and nearly resembling those of the chamois. In other respects, these two animals have the same customs, the same manners, and the same country; only the ibex, as he is endowed with more agility, and is stronger than the chamois, climbs to the summit of the highest mountains, while the chamois only lives in the second stage; but neither the one nor the other is to be found in the plains. Both make their way on the snow; both ascend precipices by bounding from rock to rock; both are covered with a firm and a solid skin, and clothed, in winter, with a double fur, with very rough hair outwardly, and a finer and thicker hair underneath. Both of