HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 79 



The GAZELLES, or ANTELOPES, 



A R E a numerous and beautiful race of animals, 

 Jl\_ inhabiting the hotted parts of the globe. They 

 are clafled, by fy Hematic writers, with the Goat kind; 

 and, like them, have hollow horns, which they never 

 call : In other refpe£ts, they greatly refemble the Deer ; 

 efpecially in the elegance of their form, and the fwift- 

 nefs of their motions. They are of a reftlefs and timid 

 difpofition, remarkably agile; and mod of their bound- 

 ings fo light and elaftic, as to ftrike the fpectators with 

 aftonilhment. 



Of all animals, the Gazelle has the mod beautiful 

 eye ; to which the eaftern poets have made frequent al- 

 lufions, in defcribing thofe of their favourite beauties. 



The diftinguilhing marks of this tribe of animals, in 

 which they differ both from the Goat and Deer, are 

 principally thefe : — Their horns are different, being an- 

 nulated or ringed round, and at the fame time marked 

 with longitudinal deprefiions or furrows, running from 

 the bafe to the point: Befides the extreme beauty and 

 meeknefs of its afpe£t, the Gazelle is more delicately and 

 finely limbed than the Roe-buck ; its hair is finer and 

 more glofly : Its fwiftnefs is fo great, that the Grey- 

 hound, the fleeter!: of Dogs, is unequal to the courfe ; 

 and the fportfman is obliged to call in the aid of the Fal- 

 con, which, being trained to the work, feizes on the 

 animal, and impedes its motion, fo as to enable the Dogs 

 to overtake it. In India and Perfia, a fort of Leopard is 

 fometimes made ufe of in the chafe, which takes its prey 

 by the greatnefs of its fprings ; but mould he fail in his 

 firft eflay, the game efcapes, 



