68 The Wild Animals of Palestine. 



Communications. 



1. The Wild Animals of Palestine. 



By Mrs Brown, Barnkin of Craigs. 



The wild animals of Palestine are not of a formidable char- 

 acter, neither climate nor condition of the country being suitable 

 for the most dangerous classes. Hyaenas were probably the 

 fiercest, but we oftener heard than saw them, for they are almost 

 wholly nocturnal animals. When spending the summer months, 

 as we always did, encamped at some distance from Jerusalem, we 

 often at night heard that strange sound called the hysena's laugh, 

 and a careful watch was considered necessary over the horses, as 

 hysenas are credited with a love of horse flesh. Wolves were 

 oftener seen by day, but though they would have been well able to 

 give account of themselves if driven to bay, they were not other- 

 wise dangerous. Foxes were common, also jackals. The jackals 

 were really useful. They used to creep into the city at night, 

 through the water courses under the walls, and aid the troops of 

 dogs, which infest all Turkish towns, in their most valuable work 

 as scavengers. What the Jerusalem of those days would have 

 been without the dogs and jackals it is appalling to contemplate. 

 There were also porcupines, though I do not remember ever to 

 have seen one ; but we often found their quills lying about. 

 Gazelles were fairly plentiful, and, though extremely shy, no* 

 difficult to tame. To a certain point their grace and beauty 

 make them charming pets, but there are drawbacks. We had 

 one which, for a short time, was an immense favourite, but 

 after he had one day breakfasted on a large piece of one of my 

 mother's finest damask tablecloths, and lunched on a packet of 

 important business letters, which my father had placed on a 

 chair while sorting, he was voted a nuisance, and sent away. 

 While I am on the subject of gazelles, I may perhaps 

 be allowed to stray into the frivolity of a sporting 

 story. It is not a Baron Miinchhausen, though it has a dramatic 

 completeness worthy of that renowned raconteur. In a country 

 where meat is of execrable quality, a gazelle was a welcome 

 addition to the larder, but a difficult one to secure, the intense 

 clearness of the air, almost abolishing distance, and absence of 

 cover rendering it very difficult to get within range of animals 

 whose senses are so extremely keen. A Roumanian man 



