ANTELOPE, in natural history, of the Ilammalia class of animals, of the order Glires. The zeneric character is. horns hollow, seated on a bony core, growing upwards, annulated or v..ri.athing, per manent. Front teeth in the lower jaw eight, and no canine teeth. Antelopes constitute a very numerous race : they were formerly, even by Linnaus, ranged under tlke genus Capra, but now have ob. tained a rank for themselves : their habits and manners are thus described. They inhabit, two or three species excepted, the hottest parts of the globe ; or, at least, those parts of the temperate zone that lie so near the tropics as to form a doubtful climate. None, therefore, ex cept the Saiga and the Chamois, are to be met with in Europe ; and notwithstanding the warmth of South America is suited to their nature, but one or two species has yet been discovered in the new world. Their proper climates seem, therefore, to be those of Asia and Africa, where the species are very numerous. "As there appears ageneral agreement in the nature of the species that form this great genus, it will prevent needless repetition to ob serve, that the antelopes arc animals ge nerally of a most elegant and active make ; of a restless and timid disposition ; ex tremely watchful, of great vivacity, re markably swift and agile, and most of their boundings so light and elastic, as to strike the spectator with astonishment. What is very singular is, that they will stop in the midst of their course, gaze for a moment at their pursuers, and then re sume their flight. As the chase of these animals is a favourite amusement with the eastern nations, from that may be collect ed proofs of the rapid speed of the ante lope tribe. The greyhound, the fleetest of dogs, is usually unequal in the course, and the sportsman is obliged to call in the aicl of the falcon, trained for the pur pose, to seize on the animal, and impede its motions, in order to give the dogs an opportunity of overtaking it. In India and Persia a species of leopard is made use of in the chase : this is an animal that takes its prey, not by swiftness of foot, but by the greatness of its springs, by motions similar to those of the antelope ; but, should the leopard fail in its first essay, the game escapes. The fleetness of the
antelope was proverbial in the country it inhabited, even in the earliest times : the speed of Mattel (2 Sam. ii. 18.) is beauti fully compared to that of the Tzebi ; and the Gadites were said to he as swift as the antelopesupon the mountains. The sacred writers took their similics from such ob jects as were before the eyes of the peo ple to whom they addressed themselves.
Ii There is another instance drawn from the same subject : the disciple raised to life at Joppa was supposed to bave been call ed Tabitha, i. e. Dorcas, or the antelope, from the beauty of her eyes; and to this day one of the highest compliments that can be paid to female beauty, in the eastern regions, is .Rine el Czazel, ' You have the eyes of an antelope.' Some species of an telopes form herds of two or three thou sands, while others keep in troops of five or six. They generally reside in hilly countries, though some inhabit plains : they often brouse like the goat, and feed on the tender shoots of trees, which gives their flesh an excellent flavour. This is to be understood of those which are taken in the chace ; for those which are fatten ed in houses are far less delicious. The flesh of some species are said to taste of musk, which perhaps depends on the qualities of the plants they feed upon." This preface (says Mr. Pennant) was thought necessary, to point out the dif ference in nature between this and the goat kind, with which most systematic writers have classed the antelopes : but the antelope forms an intermediate ge nus, a link between the goat and the deer; agreeing with the former in the texture of the horns, which have a core in them, and are never cast; and with the latter in elegance of form and swiftness.