THE STORY OF THE GAZELLE. 
The gazelle is regarded as the embodiment of grace and beauty, and is 
celebrated in song and story. It is usually of a sandy color and has a white 
streak on the side of the face from the base of the horn nearly to the nose, 
thus cutting off a dark triangular patch in the middle of the forehead, while 
the streak itself is bordered by a dark line. The horns, which are generally 
present in both sexes, are recurved and completely ringed throughout the 
greater part of their length. Most of the gazelles do not exceed thirty inches 
in height, although the mohr reaches thirty-six inches. There are about 
twenty-one living species. 
The gazelle so famous in Oriental poetry inhabits Arabia and Syria. Its 
eyes are very large, dark and lustrous, so that the Oriental poets love to com¬ 
pare the eyes of a woman to' those of a gazelle, just as Homer constantly ap¬ 
plied the epithet ox-eyed to the more majestic goddesses, such as Juno and 
Minerva. Jt is easily tamed when young, and is frequently seen domesticated 
in the court yards of houses in Syria. Its swiftness is SO' great that even a 
greyhound cannot overtake it, and the hunters are forced to make use of 
hawks, which are trained to' strike at the head of the gazelle, and thus con¬ 
fuse it and retard its speed, SO' as to' permit the dogs to> come up. The color 
of this pretty little animal is a dark yellowish brown, fading into white on 
the under parts. 
One of the most important members of the gazelle family is the South 
393 
