314 



CASSELL'S POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY. 



covered with elongated hairs at the base ; and lyrated or conical horns, placed over the eyebrows, As 

 A specimen of these, we take 



THE ARIEL GAZELLE.* 



THIS beautiful species inhabits Syria and Arabia, where it is seen in ^large herds, bounding over the 

 desert with amazing fleetness. Its eyes are peculiarly large, dark, and lustrous, and for Oriental 

 poets and orators to say of a woman, " She has the eyes of a gazelle," is a most flattering compliment. 

 Burckhardt states that on the eastern frontier of Syria are several places allotted for the hunting 



THE GEMS-BOC. 



of this animal, or rather for its entrapment and destruction. An open space on the plain, about a 

 mile and a half square, is inclosed on three sides by a wall of loose stones, too high for the gazelle to 

 leap over. Gaps are left in different parts of the wall, and at each gap a deep ditch is sunk on the 

 outside. The inclosure is situated.near some rivulet or spring, to which the gazelles resort in summer. 

 When the sport is to begin, many peasants assemble and watch till they see a herd -of these animals 

 advancing from a distance towards the inclosure, into which they drive them : frightened by the shouts 

 of the people and the discharge of the fire-arms, the gazelles endeavour to leap over the wall, but can 

 only effect this at the gaps, where they fall into the ditch outside, and are easily taken, sometimes by 

 hundreds. The chief of the herd always leaps first, and the others follow him one by one. The flesh 



* Antilope Arabica. 



