In the year 1777, M. Vosmaër published a description of this animal,
which he calls the _Small Beautiful Buck of Guinea_, and from whom
we have extracted the following account. "This was one of the most
beautiful animals I ever saw; it was sent from Guinea with thirteen
others of both sexes, but twelve of them died in their voyage to
Holland, and those two which survived were males; these were put
into the menagerie of the Prince of Orange, and one of them died the
following winter, 1764. They are remarkable timid animals, and are
much frightened at any noise, especially at thunder. When they are
suddenly surprised, they express their fear by whistling strongly with
their nose. The one now living, (in 1766) though very wild at first,
is now so familiar, that upon holding a piece of bread to him, and
calling him by the name they have given him of _tetje_, he will not
only approach, but allow himself to be stroaked. He is a particularly
clean animal, and will not suffer the smallest piece of dirt to remain
on any part of his body, but is constantly scratching himself with his
hind feet. He is very active, and when standing still, keeps one of
his fore-legs rather in a bent position, which gives him a graceful
appearance. He eats bread, rye, carrots, is fond of potatoes, and is
a ruminating animal. His horns are rather large in proportion to his
size, and he has a small quantity of hair between them which he rises
to a point. He is about the size of a young kid of two months old, and
his limbs are extremely well proportioned. His head somewhat resembles
that of a roe-buck; his nose is black and naked, but always moist; his
upper lip appears as if divided; he has no beard but a kind of small
whiskers on the sides, and a wart covered with hair under his chin; his
horns are black, about three inches long, quite straight, and end with
a sharp point; they are furnished with three rings, which rise a little
backward; from the black tuft between the horns, there is a stripe of
that colour down to the nose; his ears are large, with some short
hairs on the insides, and on the tops, but all the other parts of them
are black and naked; the eyes are large, and of a deep brown, between
the eyes and nose there are black cavities, from the middle of which
a viscid gummy humour exudes, that soon becomes hard and black, but I
could never perceive that it contained that odour which Dr. Grimmius
and those who have followed him, describe it to possess; the upper part
of the neck and the head are of a yellowish grey, the back black, the
sides a bright brown, the belly grey, and the limbs white as far as
his knees; his legs have a black band, and the hair becomes blackish
towards the hoofs; he had no heels, his feet were cloven, he had
beautiful black pointed hoofs, and his tail was very short and white,
with a black band on the upper part."