which is devoted, together with the next room to the east, to Hoofed
Animals. Looking eastward from the western side of the room he will
observe at once that his way lies down a passage, marked on either
side by formidable zoological specimens, which he would rather meet,
with their present anatomy of hay, than in their natural condition. In
the first room, near the giraffes, stand the walrus of the North Sea;
the African rhinoceros; and the Manilla buffalo. He will next observe,
that the walls of the room are lined with glass cases, about twelve
feet in height, and that in these cases various stuffed animals are
grouped. The groups in this room include the varieties of the
Antelope, Sheep, and Goats. Grouped together in two or three cases,
are the sable and other antelopes from the Cape of Good Hope; the
algazelle, and the addax and its young from North Africa; the
sing-sing, and the koba from Western Africa; the sassaybi; the chamois
of the Alps--the subject of many a stirring mountain song; the goats
of North Africa; the strange Siberian ibex; the grue and gorgon from
the Cape; varieties of the domestic goat, and the beautiful Cashmere
goat. Here also are specimens of sheep, including the wild sheep from
the Altai; the bearded sheep of North Africa; the American arguli; the
nahorr and caprine antelopes from Nepal; and upon the higher shelves
of the cases are grouped the gazelles from Senegal, Nepal, and Madras,
whose praises have been sung more than once. The beauty and grace of
these delicate creatures, with their taper active limbs, and the soft
expression of their heads, may be faintly gathered even from these
inanimate stuffed skins with the glassy eyes instead of "the soft
blue" celebrated by the poet. Grouped hereabouts are also the
four-horned antelope of India; the pigmy antelope from the coast of
Guinea; and the madoka from Abyssinia. Before leaving this room, or
ante-room, to the great zoological sections of the museum, the visitor
should notice the varieties of horns,--straight and tortuous, but all
graceful,--of different kinds of hoofed animals.