THE ANTELOPES. 51 



quire a fleet horse to overtake them. Their flesh is very well 

 tasted, juicy, and delicate. 



THE ELK ANTELOPE 



Is likewise an inhabitant of Africa, and also of India. It has 

 straight horns, two feet long, and of a dark brown colour, marked 

 with two prominent spiral ribs, running two-thirds of their length, 

 the tops smooth, with an inward inflection. The forehead is flat, 

 with a crest of hair standing erect the whole length of it. This 

 animal is one of the largest of the gazelle kind : it is of a bluish 

 ash colour, and has a black mane, which stands upright, and 

 runs the whole length of the back as well as of the neck. The 

 elk antelopes live chiefly in the plains and valleys, and when 

 hunted, always endeavour to run against the wind. The Dutch 

 colonists, in the Cape settlement, are very expert in hunting this 

 animal. 



THE HART BEEST 



Is the most common of all the larger kind of gazelles in Af- 

 rica ; it is named by Mr. Pennant the cervine antelope. M. 

 Buffon calls it the bubale, and it is supposed to be the bubalus of 

 the ancients. Its flesh is very fine, somewhat dry, but of an 

 agreeable flavour. 



THE STRIPED ANTELOPE 



Is a tall and beautiful animal, inhabiting the southern parts of 

 Africa : it somewhat resembles the white antelope, but is larger : 

 it has a longitudinal stripe of white along the back, with eight 

 or nine stripes of the same colour diverging from it downwards, 

 in the form of ribs. 



THE GEMSEBOEK 



Is another species of antelopes, famous for a concretion in the 

 stomach, called the oriental bezoar. The power of expelling 

 poison, which ignorance formerly attributed to it, caused it to be 

 estimated at an enormous value. Some bezoars have been sold 

 as high as 200. Experience, however, has discovered, that its 

 virtues are only imaginary, and this once celebrated medicine is 

 no longer used in countries where the study of nature has dis- 

 pelled the mists of ignorance. 



These descriptions of the principal distinctions of the gazelle, 

 or antelope kind, are taken from that accurate and indefatigable 

 investigator of nature, Dr. Sparman, who, from his residence at 

 the Cape, and his active researches, was especially qualified to 

 inform us of the nature and qualities of the animals in the south- 

 ern parts of Africa. He mentions a number of other varieties 



