ANTELOPE. 
throat to the breast, are some long hairs 
hanging down; the breast and belly are 
grey ; the tail is two feet long, brown above, 
white beneath, and black at the end. 
The Gnu, the Hottentot name for a 
singular animal, which, with respect to its 
form, is between the horse and the ox. It 
is about the size of a common galloway, the 
length of it being somewhat above five feet, 
and the height rather more than four. This 
animal is of a dark-brown colour ; the tail 
and mane of a light grey ; the shag on the 
chin and breast, and the stiff hairs which 
stand erect on the forehead and upper part 
of the face, are black ; the curvature of the 
horns is singular ; and the animal is repre- 
sented in the figure in the attitude of butting, 
to give an idea of their form and position. 
The legs of the gnu are small ; its hair is very 
fine ; and it has a cavity beneath each eye, 
like most of the antelope kind. 
The. Chevrotain and Meminna. — The 
Chevrotain, or little Guinea Deer, is the 
smallest of all the antelope kind, the least 
of all cloven footed quadrupeds, and we 
may add, the most beautiful. Its legs at 
the smallest part are not much thicker than 
a tobacco-pipe ; it is not more than seven 
inches in height, and about twelve from 
the point of the nose to the insertion 
of the tail ; its ears are broad ; and its horns, 
which are straight, and scarcely two inches 
long, are black and shining as jet ; the co- 
lour of the hair is a reddish brown ; in some 
a beautiful yellow, very short and glossy. 
These elegant little creatures are natives of 
Senegal and the hottest parts of Africa; 
they are likewise found in India, and in 
many of the islands belonging to that 
vast continent. In Ceylon, there is an ani- 
mal of this kind called Meminna, which is 
„ not larger than a hare, but perfectly resem- 
bling a fallow-deer. It is of a grey colour ; 
the sides and haunches are spotted and 
barred with white; its ears are long and 
open ; and its tail short. None of these 
small animals can subsist but in a warm cli- 
mate. They are so extremely delicate, that 
it is with the utmost difficulty they can be 
brought alive into Europe, where they soon 
perish. They are gentle, familiar, most 
beautifully formed, and their agility is such,^ 
that they will bound over a wall twelve feet 
• high. In Guinea, they are called Guevei. 
The female lias no horns. 
The Springer Antelope, — is an elegant spe- 
cies, weighs about fifty pounds, and is rather 
less than a roe-buck : inhabits the Cape of 
Good Hope ; called there the Spring hock, 
from the prodigious leaps it takes on the sight 
of anybody. When alarmed, it has the power 
of expanding the white space about the tail 
into the form of a circle, which returns to 
its linear form when the animal is tranquil. 
They migrate annually from the interior 
parts in small herds, and continue in the 
neighbourhood of the Cape for two or three 
months ; then join companies, and go off in 
troops consisting of many thousands, cover- 
ing the great plains for several hours in 
their passage : are attended in their migra- 
tions by numbers of lions, hyaenas, and other 
wild beasts, which make great destruction 
among them : are excellent eating, and, 
with other antelopes, are the venison of the 
Cape. Mr. Masson informs ns, that they 
also make periodical migrations, in seven or 
eight years, in herds ef many hundred thou- 
sands, from the north, as he supposes, from 
the interior parts of Terra de Natal. They 
are compelled to it by the excessive drought 
which happens in that region, when some- 
times there does not fall a drop of rain for 
two or three years. These animals, in their 
course, desolate Caffraria, spreading over 
the whole country, and not leaving a blade 
of grass. Lions attend them ; where one of 
those beasts of prey are, the place is known 
by the vast void visible in the midst of the 
timorous herd. On its approach to the 
Cape, it is observed that the avant guard is 
very fat, the centre less so, and the rear 
guard almost starved, being reduced to live 
on the roots of the plants devoured by those 
which went before ; but ou their return they 
become the avant guard, and thrive in their 
turn on the renewed vegetation ; while the 
former, now changed into the rear guard, 
are famished, by being compelled to take up 
with the leavings of the others. These ani- 
mals are quite fearless, when assembled in 
such mighty armies, nor can a man pass 
through unless he compels them to give 
way with a whip or stick. Mffien taken 
young, they are easily domesticated : the 
males are very wanton, and are apt to butt 
at strangers with their horns. The expan- 
sile white part on the end of the back of 
this animal is a highly singular -circumstance. 
It is formed by a duplicature of the skin in 
that part, the inside and edges being milk- 
' white ; when the animal is at rest, the edges 
alone appear, 'resembling a white stripe, but 
when alarmed, or in motion, the cavity, or 
white intermediate space, appears in form 
of a large oval patch of that colour. 
The Scythian Antelope, or Saiga, — which 
is the only one of the species that is to be 
