GLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 9. RUMINANTIA. 
539 
FEMALE GAZELLE. 
The Kevel or Flat-horned Antilope, A. Kevella of Pallas, is only the young of the Gazelle. 
Tlie Ariel Gazelle, Antilojoe Arabica — the A. leptoceros of F. Cuvier — is one of the most cel- 
ebrated of antilopes; it is abont two feet high at the shoulder; its hmbs are slender but vigorous, 
and all its actions are light and spirited. In full flight it lays the horns back nearly on the shoul- 
ders, and seems to skim over the level plain almost without touching it. The general color above 
is dark fawn or yellowish-brown ; the under parts are white, divided from the color of the upper 
parts by a black or deep brown band along the flanks. 
This beautiful species inhabits Arabia, Syria, and Persia, w^here it is seen in large herds, bound- 
ing over the desert with amazing fleetness. Its eyes are peculiarly large, dark, and lustrous, and 
have supplied a simile to the Oriental poets and orators; indeed, to say of a woman, "sAe has the 
eyes of a gazelle^'' is a most flattering commendation. It is an object of the chase in Arabia, as 
it was among the ancient Egyptians, whose exciting delineations of it are abundant. Its flesh is 
said to be excellent. So swift are these animals, that the greyhound unaided cannot overtake 
them ; the falcon, therefore, is brought into service. The huntsman advances as near as possible 
to the herd, the dogs are then slipped and the falcon thrown ofl'; the individual which the dogs 
have singled is attacked by the falcon, which is trained to strike at the head and eyes, so as to 
confuse the game and check its speed, thereby enabling the dogs to come up to it. 
Burckhardt informs us that on the eastern frontier of Syria are several places allotted to the 
huntiug of this animal, or rather for its entrapment or destruction. An open space on the plain, 
about one mile and a half square, is inclosed on three sides by a wall of loose stones too high for 
the gazelle to leap over. Gaps are left in diflferent parts of the wall, and at each gap a deep ditch 
is sunk on the outside. The inclosure is situated near some rivulet or spring to which the gazelles 
resort in summer, "When the sport is to begin, many peasants assemble and watch till they see 
a herd of gazelles advancing from a distance toward the inclosure, into -which they drive them. 
The gazelles, frightened by the shouts of the people and the discharge of the fire-arms, endeavor 
to leap over the wall, but can only eflfect this at the gaps, where they fall into the ditch outside 
and are easily taken, sometimes by hundreds. The chief of the herd always leaps first, and the 
others follow him one by one. The gazelles thus captured are immediately killed, and their flesh 
sold to the Arabs and neighboring Fellahs. Of the skin a kind of parchment is made, and used 
to cover the small drum with which the Syrians accompany some musical instruments or the 
voice. 
