434 GAZELLES. 



regular habitant of the desert which we think ought 

 not to be passed over without a few words of special 

 notice. 



The reports of travellers seem to show that there is 

 literally no desert too sterile for these beautiful and 

 delicately formed animals to find subsistence there. Like 

 almost all the denizens of the desert they have been 

 coloured by Nature so as to match more or less exactly 

 the colour of the sand and of this protective colour- 

 ing the gazelle furnishes a conspicuous and very 

 beautiful example: so closely do their coats resemble 

 the general colouring of the landscape that in the 

 distance, and when at rest, it is scarcely possible to 

 distinguish them from the surrounding sand and stones. 



In some of the more barren districts in which these 

 animals find a home, the only herbage that seems to 

 be produced is confined to occasional tufts of wiry 

 grass, and a few dwarf and strongly scented aromatic 

 herbs. Many of the desert herbs partake of this fra- 

 grant nature, and when crushed beneath the foot, or 

 in the fingers, emit a delicious and powerful fra- 

 grance. 



Dr. Barth, the German traveller, mentions that in 

 some parts of Northern Africa, the dung of the gazelle 

 becomes so strongly impregnated by this aromatic 

 scent, that it is collected by the Arabs, and when per- 

 fectly dry it is reduced to powder, and used as a 

 species of pungent snuff. According to Mr. Doughty, 

 the number of these animals that frequent some parts 

 of the Arabian deserts is extraordinary and vast herds 

 of them have occasionally been met with by the great 

 Hadj Caravan ; * the gazelle, he also thinks, is identical 



* Arabia Deserta, by Chas. M. Doughty, 1882 88, Vol. i., p. 50. 



