9 
Facial length from between the horns to the tip of the nasals 13°5 inches ; 
breadth of the forehead, across the frontal horn-support, 4:0. Horns diverging 
from each other at an even rounded curve, so as together to form a U when 
viewed from the front, a method of curvature only found in this and the next 
species. In length, when measured round the curves, they attain to a little 
more than 14 inches. 
Hab. Northern Africa (interior of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunis) and Arabia. 
The Bubal (Bubalis or Bubalus) is one of the few Antelopes known to the 
ancient writers, being included by Herodotus among the beasts of Libya, 
and being likewise mentioned by Aristotle, Aschylus, and Pliny. ‘The Bubal 
is also referred to in the Old Testament and called “‘ Yachmur’—a term 
which has been incorrectly translated in the authorized version as “ Fallow 
Deer.” Under this name it is included in the list of the daily provisions of 
King Solomon (i. Kings, iv. 23) as one of the animals brought to the royal 
table. 
Coming to more modern days we find that in the time of Dr. Thomas Shaw, 
F.R.S., of Queen’s College, Oxford (who was resident twelve years at Algiers 
as British Chaplain), the Bubal was abundant on the north of the Atlas. 
Dr. Shaw (‘Travels in Barbary and the Levant,’ Oxford, 1738), in his 
*¢ Physical and Miscellaneous Observations on the Natural History of Algiers 
and Tunis,” tells us :— 
“ Of cattle that are not naturally tame and domesticated, these Kingdoms 
afford large Herds of the Neat kind called Bekker el Wash by the Arabs. 
This Species is remarkable for having a rounder Turn of Body, a flatter Face, 
with Horns bending more towards each other than in the tame kind. It is 
therefore, in all Probability, the Bos africanus of Bellonius, which he seems 
justly to take for the Bubalus of the Ancients; though, what he describeth is 
little bigger than the Caprea or Roe-Buck, whereas ours is nearly of the same 
size with the Red-Deer, with which also it agreeth in Colour. The young 
Calves of this Species quickly grow tame, and herd with other Cattle.” 
Since the days of Shaw, however, the Bubal has retired far beyond the Atlas 
into the recesses of the desert, and has become a difficult animal to meet with. 
Loche (Expl. Sc. de l’ Algérie) tells us that it is now confined to the moun- 
tainous districts of the Sahara, where it roams about in small troops. Canon 
Tristram states that “the hunters of Souf frequently obtain this, the largest 
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