The Common Antelope.—The Ante lope, properly so called, abounds in Bar bary, and in all the northern parts of Afri ca. It is somewhat less than the fallow deer: its horns are about sixteen inches long, surrounded with prominent rings al most to the top, where they are twelve inches distant from point to point. The horns of the antelope are remarkable for a beautiful double flexion, which gives them the appearance of the lyre of the ancients. The colour of the hair on the back is brown, mixed with red; the belly and inside of the thighs white ; and the tail short.
The Striped Antelope,—is a beautiful, tall gazelle, inhabiting the Cape of Good Hope ; has long, slender shanks : its horns are smooth, twisted spirally, with a pro minent edge or rib following the wreaths; they are three feet nine inches long, of a pale-brown colour, close at the base, and at the points round and sharp. The colour of this animal is a rusty brown ; along the ridge of the back there is a white stripe mixed with brown ; from this are eight or nine white stripes pointing down wards ; the forehead and the fore part of the nose are brown; a white stripe runs from the corner of each eye, and meets just above the nose; upon each cheek-bone there are two small white spots ; the in ner edges of the ears are covered with white hair, and the upper part of the neck is adorned with a brown mane, an inch long; beneath the neck, from the throat to the breast, are some long hairs hang ing down ; the breast and belly are grey ; the tail is two feet long, brown above, white beneath, and black at the end.
The Gnu, the Hottentot name for a sin gular animal, which, with respect to its form, is between the horse and the ox.— It is about the size of a common galloway, the length of it being somewhat above five feet, and the height rather more than four. This animal is of a dark brown co lour: the tail and mane of a light grey ; the shag on the chin and breast, and the stiff hairs which stand erect on the fore head and upper part of the face, are black; the curvature of the horns is singular ; and the animal is represented i n the figure in the attitude of butting, to give an idea of their form and position. The legs of the gnu are small ; its hair is very fine ; and it has a cavity beneath each eye, like most of the antelope kind.
The Chevrotain and Chevrotain, or little Guinea Deer, is the smallest of all the antelope kind, the least of all cloven-footed quadrupeds, and, we may add, the most beautiful. Its legs at the smallest part are not much thicker than a tobacco-pipe ; it is not more than seven inches in height, and about twelve from the point of the nose to the insertion of the tail ; its ears are broad, and its horns, which are straight, and scarcely two inches long, are black and shining as jet ; the colour ofthe hair is a reddish brown ; in some a beautiful yellow, very short and glossy. These elegant little creatures are natives of Senegal and the hottest parts of Africa ; they are likewise found in India, and in many of the islands belonging to that vast continent. In Ceylon, there is an animal of this kind, called Meminna, which is not larger than a hare, but per fectly resembling a fallow-deer. It is of a
grey colour; the sides and haunches are spotted and barred with white ; its ears are long and open ; and its tail short. None of these small animals can subsist but in a warm climate. They are so ex tremely delicate, that it is with the utmost difficulty they can be brought alive into Europe, where they soon perish. They are gentle, familiar, most beautifully form ed, and their agility is such, that they will bound over a wall twelve feet high. In Guinea, they are called Gucvci. The fe male has no horns.
The Springer Antelope,—is an elegant species, weighs about fifty pounds, and is rather less than a roe-buck ; inhabits the Cape of Good Hope ; called there the Spring bock, from the prodigious leaps it takes on the sjght of any body. When alarmed, it has the power of expanding the white space about the tail into the form of a circle, which returns to its li near form when the animal is tranquil. They migrate annually from the interior parts in small herds, and continue in the neighbourhood of the Cape for two or three months ; then join companies and go off in troops, consisting of many thou sands, covering the great plains for seve ral hours in their passage : are attended in their migrations by numbers of lions, hymnas and other wild beasts, which make great destruction among them : are excel lent eating, and, with other antelopes, are the venison of the Cape. Mr. Masson in forms us, that they also make periodical migrations, in seven or eight years, in herds of many hundred thousands, from the north, as he supposes from the interi or parts of Terra de Natal. They are com pelled to it by the excessive drought which happens in that region, when sometimes there does not fall a drop of rain for two or three years. These animals, in their course, desolate Caffraria, spread ing over the whole country, and not leav ing a blade of grass. Lions attend them : where one of these beasts of prey are, the place is known by the vast void visible in the midst of the timorous herd. On its ap proach to the Cape, it is observed that the avant guard is very fat, the centre less so, and the rear guard almost starved, being reduced to live on the roots of the plants devoured' by those which went before ; but on their return they become the avant guard, and thrive in their turn on the re newed vegetation ; while the former, now changed into the rear guard, are famish ed, by being compelled to take up with the leavings of the others. These animals are quite fearless, when assembled in such mighty armies, nor can a man pass through, unless he compels them to give way with a whip or stick. When taken young, they are easily domesticated ; the males are very wanton, and are apt to butt at strangers with their horns. The expan. rile white part on the end of the back of this animal is a highly singular circum stance. It is formed by a duplicature of the skin in that part, the inside and edges being milk-white ; when the animal is at rest, the edges alone appear, resembling a white stripe, but when alarmed, or in motion, the cavity, or white intermediate space, appears in form of a large oval patch of that colour.