492 



THE CLOVEN-HOOFED ANIMALS. 



Gazelle in the desert forms an exceedingly attract- 

 ive picture, and one which has inspired Oriental 

 poets with enthusiastic songs from the remotest 

 times. Even the stranger from the Occident, if he 

 sees them in a state of liberty, can understand why 

 it is that they appear to the Oriental the personifi-. 

 ■cation of grace and loveliness; for he also feels a 

 breath of that enthusiasm which inspires the words 

 and sentiments of those glowing songs of praise. 

 The son of the desert compares the bright eye of 

 the maiden who moves his heart to its very depths, 

 with that of the Gazelle; he knows no more fitting 

 •designation for the slender white neck of his be- 

 loved, than to call it the neck of a Gazelle. The 

 pious man finds in this graceful daughter of the 

 •desert an emblem to aptly typify the yearning of his 

 heart after everything sublime. The Gazelle exer- 

 <:ises a fascination over everybody. The Egyptians 

 dedicated it to the supreme goddess Isis on account 

 •of its gracefulness, and sacrificed its young to the 

 queen of the gods; its beauty serves as an emblem 

 to the poet in the "Song of Solomon;" for in that 

 book it is the Roe and the young Hart with which 

 the beloved is compared. The Arabian poets of all 

 times fail to find words sufficiently laudatory in 

 which to picture it; the oldest books of this nation 

 are full of its praises, and the singers on the Arabian 

 streets glorify it to-day. 

 Physical Pecul- The Gazelle {Aiitilop: dorcas) is rather 

 iaritiesofthe smaller than the European Roe, but 

 Gazelle. jg of a much more delicate and 



slender build and has more beautiful rnarkings. Old 

 bucks are forty-four inches long, or fifty-two includ- 

 ing the tail, and are twenty-four inches high at the 

 withers. The body is sturdy, though it looks slender 

 on account of the long legs; the back is somewhat 

 arched, higher at the croup than at the withers, the 

 tail is tolerably long and thickly grown with hair 

 at the tip. The legs are extremely delicate, slender 

 and terminate in very shapely hoofs. The neck is 

 elongated and the head of moderate length, broad 

 and high above the. eyes, tapering below, and 

 slightly rounded at the muzzle. The ears are about 

 three-fourths as long as the head. The large, softly 

 lustrous eyes show a nearly round pupil; the tear- 

 pits are of moderate size. The prevailing color is a 

 sandy yellow, warming into a more or less dark red- 

 dish brown on the back and legs. A still darker 

 stripe runs along both flanks and separates the daz- 

 zlingly white under surface from the darker upper 

 parts. The horns vary in size and appearance ac- 

 cording to the sex. In the case of the buck they 

 are larger and the rings of growth are always jnuch 

 more prominent. In both sexes the horns curve up- 

 ward and backward, the tips again curving forward 

 and somewhat converging, so that their front view 

 bears a resemblance to the lyre of ancient nations. 

 The Range and The range of the Gazelle extends 

 Food of the from Barbary to Arabia and Syria, 

 Ga:zelle. and from the coast of the Mediter- 

 ranean to the mountains of Abyssinia and the plains 

 of central Africa. The entire territory of the desert 

 and the plains adjoining it may be properly re- 

 garded as its native country. In the Abyssinian 

 mountains it ascends to an elevation of about five 

 thousand feet. The more abundant the vegetation 

 of the wilderness, the more frequent the animal is 

 in it; but it must be borne in mind that an abundant 

 vegetation from a north African point of view is 

 very different from what is meant by the expression 

 in regard to oUr country. It would be a mistake to 



suppose the Gazelle to be a permanent inhabitant of 

 really fertile valleys; it pays but flying visits to such 

 regions, and probably enters them only if compelled 

 by hunger to do so. It is true that it prefers the 

 cooler climate and shade of the lowlands to the hot 

 glare of the table-lands, but only of the lowlands of 

 the wilderness; in valleys traversed by rivers it is 

 found as rarely as in high mountains. Its favorite 

 haunts are groves of mimosas, or better still, those 

 sandy stretches where hills alternate with valleys 

 and mimosas are found uniformly distributed all 

 over the country without forming isolated groves or 

 patches of woods, for the mimosa must be regarded 

 as its principal food. In the plains it also occurs, 

 and that quite numerously in some localities; but in 

 such situations also it prefers thinly grown tracts of 

 brush to fields of waving grass. In the plains of 

 Kordofan there are bands of forty or fifty which 

 extend their wanderings to considerable distances, 

 though they perhaps do not continue them the 

 whole year round. In their favorite haunts, how- 

 ever, they are only seen in small groups, numbering 

 from two to eight, and often singly. 



The Gazelle at The Gazelle is indisputably a highly 

 Liberty and gifted animal, as active and agile as 

 Tamed. ^ny Other Antelope and remarkably 



graceful besides. Its step is exceedingly light, and 

 it seems, in running, to barely touch the ground. A 

 fleeing herd affords a truly magnificent spectacle, 

 for even when danger is quite near they seem to be 

 at play. One Gazelle often leaps over another in 

 pure sportiveness, making leaps of from three to 

 six feet in height. With like playfulness it leaps 

 over stones and bushes in its path, even when it ap- 

 pears much easier to go around them. The Gazelle's 

 perceptive senses are excellently developed: that 

 of smell is acute, the eye is keen and the sense of 

 hearing delicate. The animal is intelligent, cunning 

 and even shy, is possessed of an excellent memory, 

 and where it gathers experience it becomes more 

 and more sensible. Its behavior is really charm- 

 ing. It is an inoffensive and somewhat timid crea- 

 ture, but by no means so devoid of courage as is 

 usually believed. There is always a certain amount 

 of quarreling and fighting going on in a herd, espe- 

 cially among the bucks. With all other animals 

 the Gazelle lives in peace; therefore it is often seen 

 in companionship with other nearly allied species 

 of Antelopes. 



Gazelles taken into houses while yet young be- 

 come tame in a few days, and bear confinement well 

 and for a long time, especially in their native coun- 

 try. In the European households of the larger cities 

 of northern and eastern Africa there are always to 

 be seen tamed Gazelles, and among them are many 

 which have become so accustomed to human com- 

 panionship that they can be regarded as genuine 

 domestic animals. 



The Gazelle The Gazelle is, in its native country, 



Esteemed as a the object of a diligent and most en- 



Game Animal, thusiastic chase. It is shot, caught 

 by Falcons or coursed to death by Greyhounds. 

 The second mode requires a great number of peo- 

 ple, Dogs and Falcons, thus entailing great expense, 

 and is engaged in only by the great people of the 

 world. Quietly and slowly, as much as possible 

 from the leeward, the huntsmen apjpfoach a herd of 

 Gazelles, profiting by all natural advantages for 

 concealment which the ground may offer. At a 

 suitable distance from the herd the hood is taken 

 off a trained Falcon, and as soon as the bird has 



