MAMMALIA-SAIGA. 355 



power, and possessing virtues not superior to common chalk, or crabs' 

 claws. Judicious physicians have, therefore, discarded it: and this cele- 

 brated medicine is now chiefly consumed in countries where the knowledge 

 of nature has been but little advanced. When this medicine was in its 

 highest reputation, many arts were used to adulterate it ; and many coun- 

 tries endeavored to find out a bezoar of their own. 



THE SAIGA. 1 



The Scythian antelope, or saiga, is the only one of the species that is found 

 in Europe. The general form of its body very much resembles that of the 

 domestic goat ; and, like that animal, it has a strong scent, and is fond of 

 salt ; but its horns are those of the antelope, being marked by very promi- 

 nent rings, with furrows between ; they are a foot in length, the tips smooth, 

 of a pale yellow color, and semi-transparent. During summer the hair is 

 very short, and of a gray hue, mixed with yellow ; the cheeks whitish, fore- 

 head and croAvn hoary, covered with long hairs ; the under side of the neck 

 and body white. The winter coat is long and rough ; the tail about four 

 inches long, ending with a tuft. It is equal in size to the fallow deer, and 

 the female is destitute of horns. 



These animals inhabit all the deserts from the Danube and Dnieper to the 

 river Irtish, but not beyond ; tl#y are, therefore, found in Poland, Moldavia, 

 about Mount Caucasus 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. The females are in a state of gesta- 

 tion during the winter, and bring forth in May, in the northern deserts. 

 They have but one at a time ; and the young are covered with a soft fleece 

 like a newly dropped lamb. They are regularly migratory ; late in autumn, 

 in the rutting season, they collect in flocks of thousands, and retire into the 

 southern deserts ; in spring they separate into little flocks, and return north- 

 ward. They rarely all lie down at the same time, but by a providential 

 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 relieve 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 timidity, and partly on account of the shortness of their 

 breath, they very soon become the prey of the hunter. If they are but bit- 

 ten by a dog, they instantly fall down ; nor will they even offer to rise 

 again. They are sometimes shot by the hunter; and are also taken by the 



' Antilope saiga, Desm. 



