The Marquis de Marigny, who embraces every opportunity of encouraging
the arts and sciences, shewed me in his cabinet the head of an animal,
which, at first sight, I imagined to belong to a large bubalus. It
resembled those of our largest stags; but instead of solid horns, like
those of the stag, it had two large and hollow ones with a ridge, like
those of the he-goat, and with double flexions, like those of the
antelope. In examining the royal cabinet for what might be relative to
this animal, we found two horns; the first without any mark or name,
came from his Majesty's wardrobe; the second was given to me in 1760 by
M. Baurhis, commissary of the Marines, with the name of _condoma_ of
the Cape of Good Hope affixed to it. This name we have adopted, as the
animal which it denotes has never before been described nor denominated.
By the length, thickness, and, above all, the double flexion of the
horns, the condoma approaches very near the _strepsiceros_ of Caius;
the shape and contours of the horns are exactly the same, and from
which it seems reasonable to presume that they are the same animal,
especially if we attend to the following reflections: first, Caius was
evidently deceived in considering this animal as the strepsiceros of
the ancients; for the strepsiceros of the ancients is certainly the
antelope, whose head is very different from that of the stag; while
Caius affirms, that the head of his strepsiceros is like that of the
stags, therefore his strepsiceros is not the same as that of the
ancients. Secondly, the horns of the animal Caius describes, are thick,
more than three feet in length, covered with rugosities, and not with
rings or tubercles; while those of the strepsiceros of the ancients, or
antelope, are much thinner and shorter, and are furnished with rings
and tubercles. Thirdly, although the horns of the condoma, which is in
the Marquis de Marigny's cabinet, as well as those which came from the
wardrobe of the king, have been polished and used, it is, nevertheless,
plainly perceivable, that they never had rings; this is farther
demonstrated by the horns M. Baurhis gave to me, which had never been
polished, and yet it was rough, like the horns of the he-goat, and not
annulated like those of the antelope; besides, Caius himself says,
that the horns of his strepsiceros had only rugosities, therefore his
strepsiceros is not the same as that of the ancients, but the animal
here spoken of, and which, in fact, is furnished with every character
Caius has given to that which he describes.
In looking over the works of travellers for those marks which might
have an affinity with the remarkable size of the horns of this animal,
we can find none that have a nearer relation to it than those of
the animal mentioned by Kolbe, under the name of the _wild goat_ of
the Cape of Good Hope. "This goat, says he, to which the Hottentots
have not as yet given a name, and which I call the wild goat, is
remarkable in many respects; it is about the size of a large stag; its
head is very handsome, ornamented with two smooth crooked and pointed
horns, about three feet long, and at their extremities about two feet
asunder." These characters appear perfectly to agree with the animal in
question; but having seen no more than the head, we cannot affirm that
the rest of Kolbe's descriptions equally agrees with it; we, therefore,
can only presume it as a probability, which requires confirmation by
future observations. Kolbe remarks, that "All along the back there runs
a white stripe, which ends at the insertion of the tail; another of the
same colour crosses this at the bottom of the neck, which it entirely
surrounds; there are two more which surround the body, the one behind
the fore legs and the other before the hind ones. The colour of the
rest of the body is grey, with some reddish spots, except the belly,
which is white; it has also a long grey beard, and its legs, though
long, are well proportioned."
_Engraved for Barr's Buffon_
[Illustration: FIG. 155. _Nanguer._]
[Illustration: FIG. 156. _Guib._]