ANTELOPE, a genus of the MAMNIALIA PECORA, in the Linnman system of Gmelin. See MaiumAtin. The method of hunting the antelope, which is the chief amusement of the Tonjuses, who inhabit the heaths of Daouria, on the other side of the lake Baikal, has been described by professor Pallas. About 200 hunters or horseback, with the same number of trained dots. and armed with bows and arrows, repair during autumn to the open plains, situated near a mountain, a forest, or a river. When they approach the plains, some of the most expert huntsmen are dispatched to the heights, to reconnoitre ; and as soon as they perceive the antelopes, they inform their companions, by signal, where the an telopes feed, and what course must be taken in order to reach them. The hunters then form several divi sions, which are separated by an interval of about 70 fathoms. The right and left divisions concealed behind the heights, advance till they surround the herd, when the divisions extend, and form a complete ring round their prey. When the antelopes attempt to escape, the
hunters chase them from one division to another, ter rifying them with their shouts, and the whistling from their arrows, which have a perforated button of bone, for this purpose, till they kill all within their reach. When the plain is flanked with a river, or a mountain ous forest, the hunters are most successful. The ante lopes dreading the water, try to escape by sudden leaps through the hunter's ranks. The forests are equally obnoxious to them, as they are so confounded when hunted among trees, that they run their heads against the trunks, and fall breathless to the ground. See Pal las's Travels through different Provinces of Russia, and the Northern Parts of Asia, torn. i. p. 402, and tom. iii. p. 204. (7r)