THE SAVAGE WORLD. 
601 
no quarter of the globe which some of its people have not penetrated—no litera¬ 
ture too foreign for it to be unknown to some, at least, among American 
readers. Eirdusi and other Persian poets have not only exercised great influ¬ 
ence upon Byron and Moore' and other British poets, but their works have 
become familiar to many an American reader. Among the most frequent com¬ 
parisons made by Persian poets are those in which a part is played by the 
Asiatic gazelle, or jairou, ahu, or dsherin. 
The African Gazelle ( Gazella dorcas) is described at length by Sir Samuel 
Baker, who lays special emphasis upon their adaptation to life in the desert, 
their beauty, and their strength and symmetry of development. It is unusu¬ 
ally fleet, but it is sometimes caught by the hounds because it is ignorant of 
the fable of the hare and the tortoise. 
After it has distanced its pursuers it 
will stop in reckless defiance and ex¬ 
haust its strength in vainglorious 
exhibitions of its ability as a leaper. 
The hounds “ sticking strictly to busi¬ 
ness ” finally overtake the gazelle when 
it has exhausted its strength. It is 
clothed in satin whose color varies 
from a golden-brown to a mauve; the 
belly and the legs below the knee are- 
spotless white. Its head is lighted by 
the most perfect of oriental eyes and 
ornamented with black, curved, annu- 
lated horns, a full foot in length. 
The Ugogo ( Gazella granti ) wears 
fawn color and purple, and its skin 
looks like watered silk. Its horns con¬ 
verge at the two extremities and are 
two feet in length. Its habitat is like¬ 
wise African. 
The Springbok ( Gazella euchore ) 
is named from the extraordinary fly¬ 
ing-leaps which it makes. It will leap 
as high as twelve feet into the air—and 
that without the aid of any spring¬ 
board. It is a cinnamon-brown above, 
spotless white below, and has these colors separated by a reddish-brown band. 
It is unusually shy and timid, and especially dislikes the company of human 
beings. Trustworthy travellers tell us that it carries this dislike so far that it 
will always leap over any road or pathway that man has trod. The springbok , 
like all the other boks, is liable to have its name spelled in as many different ways 
as that of Shakespeare, so that the reader need not be troubled if he reads in 
other works of the spring bock, springbuk or springbuck. It is abundant about 
the Cape of Good Hope, in spite of its frequent slaughter. It is gregarious, 
and. accounts of herds of springboks are frequent in all accounts of southern 
Africa. It has been known to migrate in herds of forty thousands. 
The Pallah, or Roovebok {Aipyceros melampus ), runs in large herds 
ibex, or steinbock ( Capra ibex). 
