234 THE ANTELOPE. 



There was a time when a stone of this kind, weighing 

 four ounces, sold in Europe for above two hundred pounds ; 

 but at present the price is greatly fallen, and they are in 

 very little esteem. The bezoar is of various colors, 

 sometimes of a blood color, sometimes of a pale yellow, 

 and of all the shades between these two. It is generally 

 glossy, smooth, and has a fragrant smell, like that of am- 

 bergris. It has been given in vertigoes, epilepsies, palpi- 

 tations of the heart, colic, and jaundice; and in those 

 places where the dearness, and not the value of medicines 

 is consulted, in almost every disorder incident to man. In 

 all cases it is perhaps equally efficacious, acting only as an 

 absorbent power, and possessing virtues not superior to 

 common chalk, or crabs' claws. Judicious physicians 

 have, therefore, discarded it ; and this celebrated medicine 

 is now chiefly consumed in countries where the knowledge 

 of nature has been but little advanced. When this med- 

 icine was in its highest reputation, many arts were used to 

 adulterate it ; and many countries endeavored to find out 

 a bezoar of their own. 



These animals inhabit all the deserts from the Danube 

 and Dnieper to the river Irtish, but not beyond ; they are, 

 therefore, found in Poland, Moldavia, about Mount Cau- 

 casus and the Caspian Sea, and in Siberia, in the dreary 

 open deserts, where salt springs abound, feeding on the 

 salt, and the acrid and aromatic plants of those countries. 

 They rarely all lie down at the same time, but by a provi- 

 dential instinct, some are always keeping watch; and 

 when they are tired, they seemingly give notice to those 

 which have taken their rest, who instantly arise and re- 

 lieve the sentinels of the preceding hours ; and thus they 

 often preserve themselves from the attacks of wolves and 

 huntsmen. They are exceedingly swift, and will outrun 

 the fleetest horse or greyhound ; yet, partly through tim- 

 idity, and partly on account of the shortness of their 

 breath, they very soon become the prey of the hunter. If 



