CHAMOIS CHAMOUN1. 



137 



trunk is compressed, and the back highly ridged or 

 cutting. The occiput, or posterior part of the head, 

 is elevated pyramidically ; the eyes are large, pro- 

 jecting far outwards, yet almost entirely covered over 

 by die skin, except immediately opposite the pupil. 

 What is still more singular, the eyes are capable of 

 moving independently of each other, taking different 

 directions at the same moment. There is no visible 

 external ear ; the tongue is fleshy, cylindrical, and 

 capable of great elongation ; the teeth are trilobate. 

 The first ribs unite with the sternum, the succeeding 

 with their correspondents of the opposite side, en- 

 closing the abdomen in a perfect circle. Each of the 

 feet has five toes, but these are separated into two 

 portions (one containing two and the other three 

 toes) by the skin, which covers them entirely to the 

 nails. The tail is long, round, and prehensile, or 

 capable of grasping twigs or branches to sustain the 

 animal. The lungs of the chameleon are vesicular, 

 and so large that, when inflated to the utmost, the 

 whole body becomes almost transparent. With the 

 different degrees of inflation, the surface under- 

 goes changes of colour, owing to the variations pro- 

 duced in the distribution of the blood, and not, as 

 has been fabled, by the animal assuming the colour 

 of the body upon which it happens to be placed. It 

 is scarcely possible to witness any thing more curious 

 or beautiful than the rapid transitions from hue to 

 hue, exhibited by the chameleon, when aroused to 

 motion. The chameleons are all exceedingly slow, 

 dull, and almost torpid. The only part which they 

 move with celerity is their long tongue. This or- 

 gan is clothed, at its extremity, with a viscid, gluey 

 mucus, and is darted out for the purpose of captur 

 ing insects, upon which the animal subsists. As they 

 feed but seldom, and are frequently seen inhaling the 

 air, to inflate their bodies as above mentioned, an 

 cient observers concluded that they fed altogether 

 on air ; but closer attention to their habits has shown 

 that they require a diet rather more substantial. Three 

 or four species are well known, and are natives of 

 Africa and the Molucca islands. They pass their 

 lives altogether upon trees, feeding upon small in- 

 sects, for which their construction shows them to be 

 perfectly adapted. Doubtless new species will 

 be added to the catalogue, as the countries of 

 which they are natives shall be more fully ex- 

 plored. 



CHAMOIS (antilope rupicapra, Fall.); a well 

 known species of the genus antelope (q. v.), found 

 only in high, mountainous regions, where they feed, 

 in small flocks or families, on the highest cliffs af- 

 fording vegetation, which are almost inaccessible to 

 man. The chamois are exceedingly shy, and have 

 very acute senses, so that it is only oy great patience 

 and skill, that the hunter can come sufficiently near 

 to shoot them. They are so swift, and leap with so 

 much vigour, and with such sureness of foot, as to 

 render it impossible to overtake them in a fair 

 chase. 



Hence the hunters of the Alps, where a few of 

 this species are still found, are obliged to encounter 

 the greatest perils hi pursuit of this favourite game 

 and, owing to the occurrence of sudden fogs, storms, 

 avalanches, and various accidents, may always be re- 

 garded as placing their lives in great jeopardy. 

 Chamois are found among the mountains oif the Cau- 

 casian range, and among tne heights of the Himalaya, 

 in greater abundance than in the Alps and Pyrenees, 

 where they are so closely pursued. Their flesh is con- 

 sidered a very superior article of food ; but whether 

 it is in fact much better than that of other animals of 

 the antelope or deer kind, may reasonably be doubt- 

 ed. The skin of the chamois is wrought into a soft, 

 pliable leather, well known by the name of the ani- 



mal furnishing it. During the winter, the chamois 

 keeps in the caverns and hollows of the rocks. Its 

 voice is a short, sharp whistling or blowing. Two 

 and sometimes three young are produced at a birth. 



The chamois is about three feet in length, and two 

 feet high ; its head resembles that of the domestic 

 goat, but the nostrils are less, and the upper lip not 

 so prominent. It has no muzzle nor beard. The 

 horns are six or seven inches long, round, almost 

 smooth, at first straight and perpendicular, and sud- 

 denly terminating in a hook directed backwards, and 

 slightly downwards. There are no larmiers* nor 

 cutaneous appendages or glands, in front of the lower 

 part of the neck. The skin is clothed with two sorts 

 of hair a very abundant and brownish woolly, and 

 a dry and frangible, silky hair, varying with the sea- 

 sons, upon the body exclusively, of a rather deep- 

 brown in winter, of a brown fawn colour in summer, 

 and slightly grey in the spring. Both sorts of hair 

 are grey at the base throughout the year. The head 

 is of a pale yellow colour, excepting a black-brown 

 band, which commences near the nose, and ends at 

 the base of the horns and ears, after surrounding the 

 eyes. The tail is black. The inside of the thighs 

 and the ears are white. The hoofs are concave be- 

 neath, and terminate by a projecting edge, especially 

 on the outside. The female closely resembles the 

 male, except that she is much smaller. The kids 

 are of a deep yellowish colour, having the under jaw, 

 both sides of the head, and the throat, white. There 

 is a black band, beginning at the corner of the mouth 

 on each cheek, surrounding the eye, and ending on 

 the forehead, without meeting the band of the other 

 side ; end of the tail black ; thighs white ; a dorsal 

 line, crossed by a transverse one, upon the shoulders. 



CHAMOMILE. See Camomile. 



CHAMOMILE, ROMAN (anthemis nobilis, Lin.); 

 a perennial plant, native of Europe, and flowering hi 

 June or July. Chamomile flowers, such as they are 

 found in the shops, are white, desiccated, of a very 

 aromatic and rather pleasant smell, and of a very 

 bitter and warm taste. They contain an essential 

 oil, of a fine blue colour, a gummo-resmous principle, 

 camphor, and tannin. Water and alcohol dissolve 

 their active principles. The Roman chamomile is a 

 moderately energetic stimulant, possessing, on ac- 

 count of its bitterness, some tonic properties, which 

 have rendered it a popular remedy for a number of 

 diseases. It is employed with success to stimulate 

 the digestive functions hi dyspepsia, chlorosis, gout, 

 in flatulent colics, &c. It is also advantageously 

 used in slight intermittent fevers, and spasmodic 

 affections. A strong infusion taken warm, and in a 

 large quantity, provokes vomiting ; in consequence 

 of which, it is used in this manner, especially in 

 North America and England, in order to assist the 

 action of emetics. It is also administered with ad- 

 vantage as an anthelmintic. The common chamo- 

 mile (matricaria chamomilla, Lin.) is now out of use. 

 See Camomile. 



CHAMOUNI, CHAMOUNIS, CHAMOUNIX, 

 or CHAMOIX ; a town of Savoy, in Upper Fau- 

 cigny ; twelve miles E. S. E. Chamberry, forty-two 

 S. E. Geneva; population, 1500. It is situated in a 

 celebrated vale, which lies N. of mont Blanc, S. E. 

 of the lake of Geneva ; eighteen miles long, and one 

 and a half broad. The river Arve flows through the 

 centre of it. The scenery surrounding the vale is 

 unrivalled in beauty and grandeur. It is 3300 feet 

 above the sea. It is visited by all travellers in 

 Switzerland. 



* The larmier is a construction appended to the eyes of 

 various animals of the deer kind, &c., for which there is no 

 English name Its use is unknown. 



