63 THE WONDERS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



have ourselves witnessed tbe feeding of the animals which form the subject of the present sketch, and 

 the pieces of oil cake on which they are fed are no sooner thrown on the ground, than the animals 

 fall on their knees, and rise not until their provender be consumed. In their present state of capti- 

 vity they appeal - completely tame and docile, and have no indication whatever of a vicious habit. 



The force with which a nyl-ghau can dart against any object may be conceived from the following 

 anecdote, that has been related of one of the finest of these animals that has ever been seen in England. 

 "A labouring man, without knowing that the animal was near him, and therefore neither meaning to 

 offend, nor suspecting that he was exposed to any danger, came to the outside of the poles of the 

 enclosure in which it was confined. The nyl-ghau, with the swiftness of lightning, darted against the 

 wood-work, and with such violence that he shattered it to pieces, and broke off one of its horns close 

 to the roots. This violence, it is supposed, occasioned Ins death, for he died not long afterwards." 

 From this it would appear, that at certain seasons the animal is vicious and fierce, however gentle it 

 may be at other times. 



In February, 1820, there was a nyl-ghau in the menagery at Exeter Change. It had been there 

 six years, and was tolerably docile, but in its temper very capricious, and not to be depended on. 



We find no mention of the flesh of the nyl-ghau constituting any pail of the food of the natives of 

 the country where it is indigenous ; nor, as far as our researches extend, can we trace any particular 

 use to which the animal has been applied. It appears merely an object of amusement as an animal 

 fitted for the chase ; and the historian of Aurengzebe mentions that that monarch forbade the destruc- 

 tion of the animal throughout his territories, reserving it to himself for the sole amusement of hunting. 



Nyl ghau, in the Persian language, signifies a blue cow or bull. 



