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 
i 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- 
rent rings, with furrows between; they area 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- 
nead and crown 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; they 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 ina state of gesta- 
tion during the winter, and bring forth in May, in the northern deserts. 
They have but one ata 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 collectin 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 


1 Antilope saiga, DesM. 
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