The many characters which antelopes possess in common with deer, seem to
place them together; but naturalists have ranked them among those
Ruminantia who have hollow horns. They are some of the most beautiful
animals in the world, and are sub-divided into sections, which depend on
the shape of their horns, but into which classification the present work
does not enter. The exquisite Gazelle, the type of Eastern beauty, the
poet's theme, with her slight and graceful shape, her slender limbs,
and her full, dark eyes, often meets with a fate which has no poetry in
it; for she is the favourite morsel of the lion and the leopard. It
might have been thought, that they would have preferred larger and more
fleshy game, but, like true epicures, the high flavour of the gazelle is
preferred to size. The falcon is often used by men for catching them, as
even the swift greyhound cannot overtake them; they are also driven into
traps, by surrounding them, in the manner of a battle. Their skin is
used in making a peculiar sort of drum.
The pigmy antelope inhabits some parts of Africa, and, in size,
corresponds with the small deer of Ceylon. I never saw so beautiful a
little creature, appearing more like a fable than a reality. Their tiny
black horns are but slightly curved inwards, their legs are not thicker
than the quill with which I am now writing; and yet all the characters
of the antelope are strongly marked. The first I saw had been brought to
my uncle; and as I entered his room, I stood quite still at the door,
with surprise at this exquisite, tiny creature, who remained with one
leg up, ready to dart away with the speed of lightning from the
intruder, for whose approach he was listening. I feared to move, lest
the vision should disappear; but death soon made it fade away
altogether. Captain Fisher, of the Navy, tried to take a pair of these
fairy-like creatures to England; they were kept in his own cabin, he
gave them all the goat's milk which had been provided for his own use,
and took infinite pains to shelter them from cold or accident; he
succeeded in getting them as far as the Channel, where they ate some
pieces of cork which had been dropped on the floor, and died. I was
equally unfortunate with a beautiful, spotted antelope, which was
brought to me; and which never could stand in the house. It had not been
hurt; but the instant it was put upon its legs, it slipped about, and I
was told this species always did so. I fed it, carried it about, and it
was very gentle, and began to know me, though still wild. It died at the
end of a fortnight, in strong convulsions.
Antelopes are exclusively inhabitants of the Old World; and some idea
may be formed of their immense numbers in South Africa, where the
species are most varied and powerful, by reading the following
quotations from Mr. Pringle, and Mr. Gordon Cumming. The former
says--"We pursued our journey over extensive plains, still parched by
severe drought, and undulating heights clothed with a brown and scanty
herbage, and sprinkled over with numerous herds of springbok. Near the
banks of the Little Fish river, so numerous were those herds, that they
literally speckled the face of the country, as far as the eye could
reach; insomuch that we calculated we had sometimes within view not less
than 20,000 of these beautiful animals. As we galloped on, they bounded
off continually, on either side, with the velocity from which they
derive their colonial appellation. They were probably _part_ of one of
the great migratory swarms which, after long-continued droughts,
sometimes inundate the colony from the Northern wastes."
Mr. Cumming informs us, that, "When pursued, the springbok jumps up into
the air ten or twelve feet, for which they curve their loins, rise
perpendicularly, and the long white hair on their haunches and back
floats about; they pass over a space of twelve to fifteen feet, come
down, then rise again; and after doing this several times, they bound
off, arch their necks, then halt, and face their enemy. If they come to
a place over which men or lions have walked, they jump across it. They
can only be compared to locusts; for they eat up every green thing, and
always return to their haunts by a different road to that which they had
previously passed. Their herds consist of tens of thousands; and where
they have staid for some time, thousands of skulls strew the plain." In
another part of his book, the same author tells us, that the ground was
literally covered with them, forming a dense, living mass, marching
slowly, and pouring like a great river for hours: hundreds of thousands
scarcely tell their number. "I give you my word," said a boer, "that I
have ridden a long day's journey, over a succession of flats covered
with them as far as I could see, as thick as sheep standing in a fold."
Among the Antelopes of the same part of the world is the Oryx, or
Gemsbok, a very beautiful animal, which has been supposed to give rise
to the Unicorn of Sacred writings; "for its long, straight horns, always
so exactly cover one another, when viewing them from a distance, that
they look like one. They have an erect mane, a long tail, and are like a
horse, with the head and hoof of an Antelope. Their bearing is most
noble, they are the size of an ass, have black bands about the head,
looking like a stall collar. They live in almost barren regions, never
want water, are very swift, and only to be caught by riding down."
The fierce Gnoo, Gnu, or _Blue Wilde Beest_ of the colonists to the
north of the Cape of Good Hope, are not as numerous as the spring-boks;
and are easily distinguished by their large, curving horns, and the
downward carriage of their head; for they never can look up. One was
found with a fore leg caught over his horn, and so was easily secured;
for he could not, of course, run, and had probably got himself into that
attitude when fighting. They have a shaggy head, long hair or mane upon
the chest, a long white tail, and wild red eyes. They utter fearful
snorts, and kick and leap about in the most grotesque and fantastic
manner. If a red handkerchief be held before them, it produces the most
violent excitement.