284 DR. LIVINGSTONE. 



and another for that ? That there was a 

 special interposition of Providence to create 

 a variety ahout the outskirts of the desert, 

 which should only drink water once in three 

 or more days, and other varieties which should 

 be absolute non-drinkers ? 



I think reflection and an attentive obser- 

 vation of nature lead one to a very different 

 conclusion. 



Dr. Livingstone has shown that vast portions 

 of South Africa, which formerly used to be 

 well- watered, have been for long, and stiU are, 

 undergoing a rapid desiccation*, and it seems 

 to me that that important fact alone is suffi- 

 cient to account for many of these antelopes 

 having changed their peculiarities and habits ; 

 and with the latter, through the lapse of 

 countless ages, their size, shape, colour, horns, 

 and other distinctions. Nay, further, I enter- 

 tain no doubt that they are undergoing these 

 said changes at this moment, but by such a 

 slow and gradual process, that it is quite im- 

 perceptible in the brief space of human life, or 

 even within the period since natural history 

 began to be studied. 



* My own personal observation in South Africa abun- 

 dantly confirms that remark of the Doctor's. 



