THE GNU. 13 



THE GNU. 



IN THE MENAGERY OF MR. CROSS, KING'S MEWS, LONDON. 



It is in the vast and unpeopled deserts of Africa, that Nature appears to sport in all the plenitude of 

 her power, in the creation of animals, from the highest degree of savage ferocity, to the very opposite 

 extreme of tameness and timidity. In no animal, however, does she appear to have employed her 

 prolific energies with greater latitude, than in the subject of the present sketch. It may justly be desig- 

 nated as one of her monstrosities, if such an epithet can in any instance be applicable to an animal 

 which is an immediate creation of Nature, or, in other words, which is the work of an omnipotent God. 

 It is in the contemplation of such an animal as the Gnu, that the human mind is lost in wonder at the 

 infinite diversity displayed in the animal kingdom, which in itself may be considered as a vast and 

 splendid theatre, wherein the astonishing treasures of Nature are exhibited for the instruction and 

 benefit of the human race. 



The Gnu may with the utmost propriety be styled an amalgamation of several animals. In ther 

 head, it resembles the Ox ; in the hinder parts, the Horse ; in the slender and elegant make of its legs, 

 it bears a strong affinity to the Antelope. In its motions, when under the influence of rage, it resem- 

 bles the buttings of the Goat ; in its speed, it almost surpasses the Horse ; and in its fierceness, it 

 departs from the nature of both the Horse and the Ox, and exhibits the character of the most savage 

 quadruped. It is, in fact, almost a centaur of the fabulous ages — half Horse, half Ox, in its habits 

 partaking of the nature of both, and yet in its species distinct and separate. The Gnu, according to 

 the classification of the early zoologists, belongs to the genus Capra, but it is decidedly erroneous ; it 

 bears no greater affinity to the Goat, than it does to the Horse, the Ox, or the Antelope, possessing 

 the characteristic properties of all the three, and yet not so strongly defined as to warrant the naturalist 

 to class it under either of those genera. As a ruminating animal, and judging by the construction of 

 the fore part of its body, it ought certainly to be classed in the Ox tribe; but if, on the other hand, 

 we examine the hinder parts, we there find all the characteristics of the Horse. Its horns are scabrous, 

 and uncommonly thick at the base, having a forward inclination close to the head, and then suddenly 

 reverting upwards. These horns appear to be weapons of a most formidable nature, and calculated 

 to withstand any force which may be opposed to them. In its rage it will often drop on its knees, 

 running with great swiftness in that singular posture, and at the same time furrowing the ground with 

 its horns and legs. In disposition, it appears to be fickle in the extreme, at one moment so highly 

 instigated by rage, as to attempt to break the inclosure in which it is confined with its horns, and the 

 next moment taking the bread which is offered to it with the utmost tameness and placidity. The 

 shape of the mouth is square, the nostrils being covered with broad flaps. From the nose, half-way up 

 the front, is a thick, oblong-square brush of long, stiff, black hairs, reflected upwards, on each side of 

 which the other hairs "are long, and point closely down the cheeks. Several strong hairs are disposed 

 in a radiated form round the eyes, imparting to it a most repellent aspect, indicative of wildness and 

 ferocity. The neck is short and arched, surmounted by a strong and upright mane, extending from 

 the horns beyond the shoulders ; on the chin is a long whitish beard, and on the gullet is a very long 

 pendulous bunch of hair, and it is this characteristic which, most probably, induced the ancient zoologists 



