67 
The famous traveller and naturalist, Dr. Eduard Riippell, of Frankfort-on- 
the-Main, whose name we have already frequently mentioned in this work, was 
the discoverer of this fine Antelope, which he met with in 1832 on the coast 
of the Red Sea west of Massowa, and subsequently described and figured in 
his ‘Neue Wirbelthiere. Riippell called this animal “ Beisa,” after the native 
name by which it was known to the Arabs of the district, and at the same 
time attempted to identify it with an Antelope which he had heard of but 
not obtained seven years previously in Dongola, there known as the 
“ Dammah,”’ But, as Heuglin has pointed out, it seems by no means certain 
that the “ Beisa” of the coastland of Abyssinia is the same as the “ Dammah” 
of Dongola. Although, therefore, the name “ dammah,” as will be seen by 
our list of synonyms, was published by Cretzschmar and Fischer before 
Ruippell’s “ dezsa,” it would be neither just nor reasonable upon this uncertain 
plea to deprive Riippell, who certainly supplied the first recognizable 
description of it, of the name of this species. 
Rippell informs us that the Beisa in his time (about 1832) was not 
uncommon in the low-country at the back of Massowa, and extended north- 
wards along the coast to Suakin. It was usually found in small families 
in the flat valleys which are slightly grassed, and was said to be fleet 
and shy, being much persecuted by the Turkish soldiers then in garrison 
at Massowa. 
Mr. W. T. Blanford, F.R.S., met with this Antelope in the same district 
during the Abyssinian Expedition of 1867-68, and, in his volume on the 
‘Geology and Zoology of Abyssinia,’ writes as follows :— 
“On returning from the interior I stopped for three days at a halting-place in the 
semi-desert north of Massowa, and succeeded in shooting four of these superb and rare 
Antelopes. All were females; but there is little, if any, difference in the sexes, both 
having equally fine horns. 
“The Beisa is found singly or in small herds, rarely exceeding ten in number, in the 
somewhat hilly barren country near the sea-coast. They are said to keep to the more 
hilly parts of Samhar. Near Annesley Bay, where the country is more wooded, this 
Antelope does not occur, but it abounds farther south in the Somali country, and the 
horns are brought in considerable numbers to Aden and Berbera. They are used as 
weapons by the Somalis. 
“ The principal food of the Oryx near Massowa is a coarse grass, almost resembling a 
diminutive bamboo. They appear to be grazers rather than browsers, although, like all 
Antelopes, they occasionally eat the young shoots of Acacia and other trees. They are 
quite diurnal in their habits, feeding in the morning and evening, in this respect 
K 2 
