THE DEER, ANTELOPE AND GAZEL. Ill 



mammiferous animals wander in flocks of several hundred 

 and always in an open country. Their swiftness and bottom 

 are so great that there are no greyhounds able to reach 

 them, or horses strong enough to hunt them. 



When they see but a small number of horsemen on the 

 plain, instead of flying they slowly approach, led by a male 

 who appears to be the chief of the herd, then they file 

 off at a trot, sometimes at thirty or forty paces from the 

 horsemen, who can send but one shot among them during 

 this manoeuvre, for at the first sound the herds fly off with the 

 swiftness of the simoon. When the Arabs want to hunt the 

 antelope, they collect all the horsemen of their tribe, and 

 proceed to the place frequented by the animal. The greater 

 part of the troop dismount in some place where they can 

 conceal themselves, whilst the spies go forward to reconnoitre 

 the herd. 



If they report that the herd is large, and composed 

 principally of young antelopes and females, a relay is formed 

 to occupy the run-ways. When the troop that is to attack 

 judge the right moment has come they approach the antelopes 

 at first slowly, then on a trot, and finally charge at full speed 

 on the traces of the flying animals. 



It is seldom before reaching the relays that a beast falls 

 behind and is killed. Until then the flock flies in perfect 

 order, the males bringing up the rear and pushing before 

 them the females and fawns ; but when they see, as if coming 

 out of the earth, thirty to forty new horsemen, shrieking like 

 madmen, the animals who are too heavy, or who are too 

 weak in the legs, that is to say, the females and fawns, 



