MAMMALIA-GNU. 363 



the menagerie of the Prince of Orange, at the Hague. Nature, though 

 regular and systematic in all her works, often puzzles and perplexes human 

 systems, of which this animal affords an instance. In the shape of its body 

 it evidently partakes of the horse, the ox, the stag, and the antelope. 



" Its head is about eighteen inches long, the upper part completely guard- 

 ed by the rugged roots of the horns, that spread across the forehead, leaving 

 only a narrow channel between them, that wears out with age, as in the 

 instance of the buffalo ; the horns project forward twelve inches, then turn 

 in a short curve, backwards, ten inches : the space from the root to the 

 point is only nine inches. Down the middle of the face grows a sort of 

 black hair four inches in length ; and from the under lip to the throat 

 another ridge somewhat longer. The orbit of the eye is round, and sur- 

 rounded by long white hairs, that, like so many radii, diverge and form a 

 kind of star; this radiated eye gives to the animal a fierce and uncommon 

 look. The same sort of vibriss8e is thinly dispersed over the lips. The 

 neck is little more than a foot long ; on the upper part is a mane extending 

 beyond the shoulders, erect, and five inches in length ; the hair like bristles, 

 black in the middle, and white on each side. This mane appears as if it 

 had been cut and trimmed with nice attention. A ridge of black hair, from 

 six inches to a foot in length, extends, from the fore part of the chest, under 

 the fore legs, to the beginning of the abdomen. The body is about three 

 feet two inches long. The joints of the hip bones project high, and form 

 on the haunches a pair of hemispheres. Tiie tail is two feet long, flat near 

 the root, where the hair grows only at the sides ; this is white, bristly, and 

 bushy. The entire length, from the point of the nose to the end of the tail, 

 is seven feet ten inches; and the height three feet six inches. The color is 

 that of a mouse, with a few ferruginous straggling hairs on the sides. Like 

 the mare, it has only two teats ; and all its motions and habits are equine. 

 Though a small animal, it appears of considerable size when prancing over 

 the plains. The gnu might be considered as an emblem of unbounded 

 freedom, Avith the means of supporting it. It possesses, in an eminent 

 degree, strength, swiftness, weapons of defence, acute scent, and a quick 

 sight. When they happen to be disturbed, the whole herd begin to draw 

 together, and to butt each other with their horns, to bound, and play their 

 various gambols, after which they gallop ofi" to a distance. Their motions 

 are extremely free, varied, and .always elegant. Fierce and vicious as this 

 animal certainly is in its wild state, yet it probably might not be very 

 difficult of domestication. No successful attempts, however, have yet been 

 made to tame it. The flesh is so like that of an ox, both in appearance and 

 taste, that it is not to be distinguished from it." 



There is another variety of the gnu, a male and female of which were 

 exhibited at Cross's menagerie, in Pail-Mall East ; and in their appear- 

 ance, partook rather more of the antelope tribe than the preceding. Mr 

 Pringle, who had seen this variety in its native regions, observes, "that 



