ANTELOPES. 



lil 



appear to the greatest advantage. In the young an 

 mals the bristles round the eyes and mouth are aiinos 

 entirely white ; and so are the lateral and shorte 

 rows of stiff hair in the mane, but the centre an 

 longer ones are black, which gives the mane the ap 

 pearance of being white, with a black border alon 

 the distal edge. In young specimens too the greate 

 part of the produced hairs of the tail are white ; bu 

 as they get older the white hairs diminish in number 

 and the old males which lead the herds in the karroo 

 or dry plains, are said to be almost, if not altogether 

 without white. The young, on the other hand, an 

 nearly white all over, and gradually deepen in colou 

 as they approach maturity. 



The gnu is not found at present nearer to Cap< 

 Town than the grand karroo in the interior of the co 

 lony ; and it is so wild, that probably its numbers have 

 been less diminished by the left-handed zeal of the 

 boors than those of the other antelopes. The name 

 given to it by the Dutch is " wilde beest," which means 

 wild ox. These animals appear in considerable 

 flocks ; and from their manes and tails, the manner 

 of carrying the head, which partially conceals the 

 horns, and also from many of their paces, they 

 might be mistaken, even at a moderate distanee, 

 for troops of wild horses; when advanced upon, 

 they begin to fling with their heels, to butt laterally 

 with their horns, and to play a number of antics as 

 if they were practising a species of energetic and not 

 inelegant military exercise. If advanced upon by 

 numbers, they do not show battle, but retreat in 

 regular order and with great rapidity ; halting and 

 forming again, after they have escaped to a certain 

 distance. If, however, they are wounded, they become 

 dangerous, because they turn upon their pursuers, 

 and fight with great courage and desperation to the 

 very last effort. Single males will sometimes, it is 

 said, also advance upon a single enemy, while the 

 rest of the herd remain at gaze watching the issue. 

 In these cases, the general mode of fighting is that 

 which has been described as practised by other 

 species ; but the gnu comes more briskly and rapidly 

 to the ground, on which he kneels ; his plunge on the 

 enemy is also more headlong and desperate ; and 

 he falls more on his feet, and uses his horns with 

 more execution. Gnus are indeed animals with 

 which it is by no means safe to tamper ; their 

 strength and speed are both very great for their 

 dimensions, and they appear to be irritated to pug- 

 nacity by the merest trifles. In these respects they 

 bear a considerable resemblance to the nyl-ghau ; 

 and though as, like that, they are hardy animals, 

 they would no doubt breed in ornamental grounds 

 in England, yet both are somewhat dangerous either 

 for the other ruminant inhabitants or for human visi- 

 ters. In its native wilds, the gnu is a most inte- 

 resting animal, lively, brave, handsome, and capable 

 of bearing great extremes of temperature and humi- 

 dity ; but it is not an animal which can be profitably 

 tamed, or even shown to advantage in confinement. 



Two or three other species have been mentioned 

 as classible with propriety along with the gnu, into a 

 separate genus ; these are represented as being all 

 rather larger in size and not quite so singular in 

 their combination of appearances as the gnu ; but 

 all of them are little known, and some rest upon 

 single and not very well authenticated specimens. 

 That there are considerable diversities of size, colour, 

 and even shape and development of the horns in the 



same species is tolerably well ascertained ; and there 

 is another point which, though it has not been often 

 adverted to, is worthy of being taken into account 

 before a genus, a species, or even a variety is founded 

 upon a single individual, or even upon one or two 

 seen at different times, or even several individuals, 

 seen occasionally and distant from each other. 

 Though the fact has not been put to the test, there 

 is little doubt that most of the animals, and proba- 

 bly all of them, are capable of breeding with each 

 other ; some resemble each other so nearly that the 

 cross breeds may be fertile ; and it is not unusual, 

 or rather it is the general law of cross breeds 

 among other races, readily to breed back to the 

 pure blood. Now the different parts of antelopes 

 often correspond in one part between two species, 

 while they are very different in another part ; as, for 

 example, the horns are alike, the bodies are alike, or 

 the limbs are alike ; but each of the other two are 

 different ; and it is natural to suppose that a hybrid 

 between these might agree with both in the common 

 part, and with one of its parents in one of the others, 

 and with the other parent in the other one. This, 

 of course, would, to those who do not study the man- 

 ners of the animals, or pay much attention to their 

 anatomy, but simply kill them, and fetch away the 

 skin and horns for the purposes of exhibition, con- 

 stitute a new antelope. This doctrine cannot be 

 pleaded in positive opposition to any thing which 

 lias been alleged concerning the species of ante- 

 lopes, because it has not been investigated ; but still 

 it deserves to be mentioned as a ground of caution, 

 and one the extent of which can be determined only 

 after the facts are sufficiently known. 



The KOKOON (A. tanrina bull antelope) is de- 

 scribed as inhabiting places farther into the interior 

 han the gnu ; and, like that, assembling in large 

 lerds, but not associating with gnus, or mixing with 

 ;hem on the same pastures. It is much larger than 

 he gnu, but stands very differently on its legs, being 

 considerably lower at the croup, with the hinder 

 )arts rather feeble, but the anterior ones, the head, 

 icck, and shoulders, are very powerful. It is, how- 

 ver, said to be a dull and timid animal in com- 

 larison with the gnu ; and the elevation of its foro- 

 egs, as compared with its hind ones, would lead one 

 o suppose that during part of the year it must feed 

 n the pendent branches of trees and on shrubs. The 

 lorns are rather more slender than in the gnu, and 

 nstead of passing down between the eyes, they pass 

 in the outside, and then are recurved upwards, but 

 ery little forwards. The colour of this animal is 

 escribed as being of a dark ashen-grey, that is, as 

 aving a slight resemblance to the female gnu. The 

 r'mdlcd gnu, and one or two other species, have 

 een described as differing from this one in the shape 

 f the horns and the colour of the body, but too 

 ttle is known of them for the purposes of popular 

 atural history, or even for establishing the fact of 

 neir being distinct species. 



The PALLAH (A. welampus). This species, which 

 s the rodebok, or redbuck, of the Dutch colonists, 

 lough it comes not much within their territory, 

 s an animal of light and graceful figure, and is 

 wift in its motions, resembling in many respects the 

 ommon antelope of Asia, only it is a little larger, 

 "he head is small, the muzzle rounded, the eyes 

 rominent, the ears rather large, the neck long and 

 eautifully formed, the chest and belly rather slender," 



