Mazame, in the Mexican language, was the name of the stag, or rather
a generic name, including the whole race of stags, fallow-deer, and
roe-bucks. Hernandes, Recchi, and Fernandes, who have transmitted this
name to us, distinguish two species of mazames, both common in Mexico
and New Spain. The first and largest, to which they give the simple
name of _mazame_, has horns like those of the roe-buck of Europe,
that is, about six or seven inches in length, with the extremities
divided into two points, and a single antler. The second, called
_temamaçame_, is much less, and has but a single horn, and without any
antlers. These two animals seem to be roe-bucks, the first being the
same species as the European roe-buck, and the second only a variety
of it. It also appears, that these mazames and temamaçames of Mexico
are the same as the _cuguacu-apara_, and the _cuguacu-été_ of Brasil,
and that in Cayenne the first is called _cariacou_, (_fig. 157._) or
the forest hind; the second, _the small cariacou_, or _the hind of the
marshes_. Though we are the first who have pointed out these relations,
yet we should not have presumed that there were either difficulties
or doubts on this subject, if Seba had not mentioned the mazame and
the temamaçame as two different animals: they are not roe-bucks with
solid and branched horns, but gazelles with hollow and wrinkled ones:
they are not animals of New Spain, as this author describes them, but
natives of Africa. These errors of Seba have been adopted by most
authors who have written since. They have not suspected that the
animals mentioned by Seba, under the names of mazame and temamaçame,
were the same as those mentioned by Hernandes, Recchi, and Fernandes.
The confusion of the names has been followed by a confusion of the
animals, and, in consequence, some naturalists have indicated these
animals by the name of chevrotains, and others by that of gazelles, or
goats. It appears that Linnæus suspected this error, for he has not
adopted it. He has placed the mazame in the list of stags, and has
thought, as we do, that the Mexican mazame is the same animal as the
cuguacu of Brasil.
To demonstrate what we have advanced, we will suppose that there were
neither gazelles, nor chevrotains, in New Spain, or in any other part
of America, and that all those, as well as goats, which are at present
there, have been carried from the old continent; that the true mazame
of Mexico is the same animal as the cuguacu-apara of Brasil; that the
name _cuguacu_ is pronounced _couguacou_; and that, by corruption,
this animal is called _cariacou_ at Cayenne, from whence we had a
living one sent us by this name of _cariacou_. We shall now endeavour
to find out what species of animals these may be to which Seba has
applied the names mazame and temamaçame, for to destroy an error it is
not sufficient to reject it, but we should also explain the cause and
demonstrate the effects.
The gazelles and chevrotains inhabit only the hottest countries of the
Old World; they cannot exist in temperate climates, and still less in
those that are cold. They could not, therefore, have ever frequented
the northern countries, and have passed, by that means, from one
continent to the other; nor have any travellers or historians of the
New World, ever pretended to have seen them in that part of the globe.
On the contrary, stags and roe-bucks, which inhabit cold and temperate
climates, might have passed over the northern lands, and therefore are
met with in both continents. We have observed, in our history of the
stag, that the Cardian stag is the same as that of Europe; that he
is only smaller, and has some slight variations in the shape of his
horns and the colour of his hair. We may add, to what has been already
said, that in America there are as many varieties among stags as in
Europe, notwithstanding which they are of the same species. One of
these varieties is the Corsican stag, which is smaller and browner than
the common kind. We have also mentioned white stags, and hinds, and
have said, that this colour proceeds from their domestic state; this
kind is also found in America, as well as our common and small brown
stags. The Mexicans, who keep these white stags in their parks, have
denominated them _Royal Stags_. It is a native of Germany, and commonly
called the _Stag of Ardennes_; and _Brandhirts_, by the Germans: it is
at least as big as the large French stags, but differs from them by
several particular characters. Its coat is thicker, and of a lighter
colour under its belly: its throat and neck is furnished with long
hairs, like the he-goat, which has caused both ancients and moderns to
give it the name of _tragelaphus_, or _stag-like goat_. There are also
a great number of roe-bucks in America: we are only acquainted with
two varieties in Europe, the red and the brown; the latter are smaller
than the former, but they perfectly resemble each other. The mazame
of Mexico, the cuguacu-apara of Brasil, and the cariacou, or forest
hind of Cayenne, entirely resemble our red roe-bucks. Comparing the
descriptions given of them is a sufficient proof, that all these names
denote the same animal. But the temamaçame, which we suppose to be the
cuguacu-été of Brasil, the small cariacou of Cayenne may be a variety
different from those of Europe. The temamaçame is less, and whiter on
the belly than the mazame, in the same manner as our brown roe-buck
has a whiter belly, and is smaller than our red one; it seems also to
differ by the horns, which is single and without antlers in the figure
given by Recchi; but if we consider that our roe-bucks, and stags, have
no antlers in the first, and sometimes even in the second year of their
age, we shall be inclined to think, that Recchi's temamaçame was too
young to have antlers: these two animals, therefore, appear to be only
simple varieties in the roe-buck species.
It now remains to enquire what these two animals, mentioned by Seba,
by the false names of _mazame_ and _temamaçame_ really are. The
bare inspection of the figures, independently of his description,
demonstrates, that these animals belong to the goats or gazelles, and
not to the stags or roe-bucks. The want of a beard, and the shape of
the horns, prove, they are not goats, but gazelles; and, by comparing
Seba's figures with the gazelles which we have described, I found that
his pretended _temamaçame of New Spain_, is the _kob_, or _little brown
cow of Senegal_. The figure, colour, and size of the horns are the
same; the colour of the hair is also the same, and differs from that of
other gazelles, by not being white, but yellow under the belly and upon
the flanks. With respect to the pretended mazame, although it resembles
the gazelles in general, yet it differs in particular from all those
we have before enumerated; but we saw in M. Adanson's cabinet, where
he has collected the most rare productions of Senegal, a stupid animal
which we call _nagor_, by reason of the resemblance of its horns with
those of the nanguer. This animal is found in the neighbouring island
of Goree, from whence he was sent to M. Adanson by M. Andriot, and
possesses all the characters which Seba gives to his pretended mazame;
its body is of a pale red, and its belly is not white, like the other
gazelles; it is of the size of the roe-buck; its horns are not six
inches long, almost smooth, and slightly bent forwards, but not so much
as those of the nanguer. Therefore this animal, mentioned by Seba, by
the name of _mazame_, or _American stag_, is only an African goat, or
gazelle, which we have added here by the name of the _nagor_ to the
twelve other gazelles, whose history we have already given.