138 



ANTELOPES. 



same length, narrow and pointed ; and the forehead 

 to the base of the horus is an inch more. The eyes 

 are large, prominent, and bright; the lachrymal 

 sinuses are much developed ; and the horns are pecu- 

 liarly elegant. In the mature males they we spiral, 

 and a little divergent, closely ridged at their base, 

 annulated in tho middle, and smooth toward the 

 points. Their average length in the full-grown ani- 

 mal is about a foot and a half, though in very old 

 specimens they are often nearly two feet. Their size 

 and also their spiral curvatures increase with the age 

 of the animal. 



Their colours vary considerably with age. When 

 young, they are of a brownish ochre yellow on the 

 upper part, with a narrow white band on the middle of 

 each flank, and the muzzle, inside of the ears, breast, 

 belly, part of the thighs, part of the buttocks, insides 

 of the legs and cannons, except the knee tufts; which' 

 are brown, are also white. As they advance in age, 

 the upper part of the face, the back, and outside of 

 the ears, become rich deep brown ; and the markings 

 upon the flanks and other places black ; and in some 

 of the finest specimens the colours are almost wholly 

 black and white. These dark-coloured ones are the 

 patriarchs or champions of the race ; and each of 

 them has a small flock of females and younger males 

 under his command and protection. The final change 

 of colour takes place about the fifth year, and the 

 females change as well as the males, but they never 

 become darker than a tawny yellow, and are 

 marked with a white streak along each side of the 

 spine. The females have no horns ; their time of gesta- 

 tion is nine months, and the produce is only one. 

 When suckled, that one is said te be driven from the 

 herd by the leader or patriarch, in which expa- 

 triated state it either falls a prey to enemies, or sur- 

 vives and becomes bold and courageous. This ap- 

 pears rather harsh schooling in a country abounding 

 with beasts of prey as India does ; but the antelopes 

 defy the chace of most predatory animals, and their 

 crouching and springing foes are chiefly in the jungles, 

 and not in the ordinary haunts of the antelopes. The 

 chutah, or hunting leopard, is sometimes used to 

 catch them by springing, and they are also flown at 

 by hawks ; but their flesh is dry and not much 

 esteemed. 



The .elegant form and graceful motions of the ante- 

 lope have, however, found it a place in the Hindu 

 mythology. That is not indeed much honour, con- 

 sidering that these people hold sacred, and build 

 palaces for, animals which most nations find it 

 their interest to destroy : but the antelope has parti- , 

 cular honours : it enters into the zodiac as their capri- 

 corn, and particular rites are directed to be paid to it. 

 These circumstances prove how early and forcibly 

 it must have attracted the attention of mankind ; 

 and certainly, in so far as beauty is concerned, 

 few animals are more worthy of attention. 



The THAK(A Thar,') This is also an Asiatic spe- 

 cies, and inhabits between the localities of the two 

 lasl mentioned. It inhabits the southern slopes of 

 the Himalaya, not approaching the snows of those 

 mountains or descending into the plains of India. 

 The species has not hitherto been met with in any 

 other part of the world, but it is plentiful in the 

 region that has been mentioned ; not living in herds, 

 or even in small flocks, but solitary, except in the 

 pairing season, and thickly scattered along the whole 

 length of the mountain range. Animals which live 

 solitary are often more easily killed or captured than 



those which are gregarious ; and this is the ease with 

 the thar, which is more easily obta ; ned than either 

 the chiru or the common antelope. The gregarious 

 ones keep sentinels always on the watch, whether the 

 majority of the herd are feeding or reposing, and 

 these give the alarm ; but as the solitary animal has 

 none to watch for it at such times, it is more easily 

 surprised. 



These animals are peculiar in their structure as 

 well as their habits. Both sexes have short horns, 

 slightly curved backward, channelled in their length, 

 and furrowed across. They have the lachrymal 

 sinuses of the true antelopes ; but they have no knee 

 bouches or bones in the groin ; their muzzles are 

 destitute of hair, and the females have four teats. 

 The make is heavy, and the limbs thick, so that the 

 animal is but a slow walker, and is soon run down 

 upon level ground. The rugged places are its proper 

 haunts, and among these it is quite at home, leaping 

 and bounding along with case and safety, where t'uvv 

 animals can follow it. 



The DZEREN (A. gutturoso). This is another 

 Asiatic species, inhabiting the wilds of the middle 

 latitudes in that part of the world, and called by the 

 Chinese the " yellow goat." It. is about four feet and 

 a half in length, and stands about two and a half high 

 at the shoulder. The body is thick and fleshy, 'the 

 legs rather short and stout, the horns lyrated, annu- 

 lated, and of a black colour ; the lachrymal sinuses 

 are small ; and in the male the larynx is very much 

 enlarged, and forms a prominent lump on the throat, 

 from which the animal gets the name Of gutturoso. 

 In the female that enlargement and the horns are 

 wanting. The female has but two teats. The colour 

 of the under part is white at all seasons, and so is the 

 upper part during the winter, but in summer that part 

 is grayish-yellow. 



Though far from being the most elegant of the 

 tribe, there are many interesting points about the 

 species. They are not only social among themselves, 

 but they seek the society of other animals, and 

 join domestic herds very readily. They are orderly 

 in their motions, and always advance or retreat in 

 line. They are remarkably fleet and sure- footed, 

 and contrive to find food where few other animals 

 could subsist. Those rocky deserts in the west of 

 China, and between that country aud the central 

 mountains, which the continued action of the weather 

 has reduced in great part to sand, or rocks quickly 

 mouldering into that substance, and on which the few 

 patches of vegetation that do occur can hardly be 

 seen by the traveller, are its pastures >, and such is its 

 flectness and inexhaustible vigour, that it appears to 

 fare as well in these wild places as the common 

 ox does in the richest pastures. The females bring 

 forth about midsummer. 



The dzeren appears to border on its western 

 confines with the saiga, and to be found wherever 

 the general character of the country becomes 

 too wild and fatiguing for the latter. It probably 

 also meets the chiru on the south of the cen- 

 tral wilds ; and thus, in so far as our present in- 

 formation extends, it appears to be the peculiar 

 ruminating animal of a singular district, of which we 

 have very little modern knowledge, or indeed know- 

 ledge of any kind, upon which we can depend. In 

 the central ridges, however, which give rise to the 

 Indus and the great rivers of China, there may be 

 other species' more adapted to rocks and precipices ; 

 for, from the volume of waters which some of these 



