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OSS<S8555 
GEMS-BOK.—Oryz Gazella. 
natural bayonets, the adult Gems-bok is a match for most of the smaller carnivora, and 
has even been known to. wage a successful duel with the lordly lon, and fairly to beat off 
its antagonist. Even when the lion has overcome the Gems-bok, the battle may sometimes 
be equally claimed by both sides, for in one instance, the dead bodies of a lon and a Gems- 
bok were found lying on the plain, the horns of the Antelope being driven so firmly into 
the lion’s body, that they could not be extracted by the efforts of a single man. The 
lion had evidently sprung upon the Gems-bok, which had received its foe upon the points 
of its horns, and had sacrificed its own life in destroying that of its adversary. 
In Captain Cummine’s deservedly popular work on Southern Africa may be found 
the following notes concerning this animal. 
“The Gems-bok was intended by nature to adorn the parched karroos and arid 
deserts of South Africa, for which description of country it is admirably adapted. It 
thrives and attains high condition in barren regions where it might be imagined that a 
locust could not find subsistence ; and burning as is the climate, it is perfectly “independent 
of water, which, from my own observation and the repeated reports both of Boers and 
aborigines, I am convinced it never by any chance tastes. Its flesh is deservedly 
esteemed, and ranks next to that of the eland. At certain seasons of the year they carry 
a great quantity of fat, at which time they can more easily be ridden into. 
Owing to the even nature of the peta which the Gems-bok frequents, its shy and 
suspicious disposition, and the extreme distances from water to which it must be followed, 
it is never stalked or driven to an ambush like the Antelopes, but is hunted on horseback, 
and ridden down by a long, severe, tail-on-end chase. Of several animals in South 
Africa which are hunted in this manner, the Gems-bok is by far the swiftest and the 
most enduring.” 
Although the Gems-bok is nearly independent of water, it stands as much in need of 
moisture as any other animal, and would speedily perish in the arid deserts were it not 
directed by its instincts towards certain succulent plants which are placed in those regions, 
and which possess the useful power of attracting and retaining every particle of moisture 
which may happen to settle in their vicinity. The most common and most valuable of 
these plants is a bulbous root, belonging to the Liliacea, called, from its peculiar property 
