Part 10

M. Peroud, surveyor of the chrystal mines in the Alps, brought over a living chamois, and gave the following excellent information on the natural habits and manners of this animal. "The chamois is a wild animal, yet very docile; he inhabits only rocks and mountains. He is about the size of a domestic goat, and resembles him in many respects. He is most agreeably, lively, and active beyond expression. His hair is short like that of the doe; in spring it is of an ash-colour; in summer rather yellow; in autumn a deep yellow mixed with black, and in winter of a blackish brown. The chamois are found in great numbers in the mountains of Dauphiny, Piedmont, Savoy, Switzerland, and Germany: they live sociably together, and are found in flocks of from eight to fifteen or twenty, and sometimes they are seen to the number of from sixty to a hundred dispersed in small flocks upon the crags of a mountain. The large males keep separate from the rest, except in their rutting-time, when they approach the females. During this time they have a very strong smell; they bleat often and run from one mountain to another. The time of their coupling is from the beginning of October to the end of November, and they bring forth in March and April. The young female receives the male at a year and a half old. The young follow the dam for about five months, and sometimes longer, if the hunters, or the wolves, do not separate them. It is asserted that they lire between twenty and thirty years. Their flesh is very good, and some of the fattest afford ten or twelve pounds of suet, which is better and harder than that of the goat. The blood of this animal is extremely hot, and is said to approach very nearly to that of the wild goat in its qualities and virtues, and may prove of the same service, for the effects are the same when taken in a double quantity: it is reckoned very good against pleurisies, a great purifier of the blood, and a restorative of perspiration. The hunters very often mix the blood of the wild and chamois goats together, and sometimes they sell the blood of the wild goat for that of the chamois. It is very difficult to distinguish the one from the other, which proves there can be but very little difference in them. The cry of the chamois is not distinct but faint, and resembling that of a hoarse domestic goat: it is by this cry they collect together, and by which the mother calls her young. But when they are frightened, or perceive an enemy, or any object which they cannot distinguish, they warn the rest of the flock by a kind of whistling noise. The chamois has a very penetrating sight, and his hearing and smell are not less discriminating. When he sees a man near he stops for a moment, and then flies off with the utmost speed. When the wind is in its favour he can smell a human creature for more than half a mile distance; therefore when he hears or scents any thing which he cannot see, he begins to whistle or blow with such force that the rocks and the forests re-echo the sound; if others are within hearing they are all alarmed; this whistling continues as long as the breath will permit: in the beginning it is very shrill, and deeper towards the close. The animal then rests a moment, after the alarm, to inspect farther into the danger, and having confirmed his suspicion, he commences his whistling, and continues it, by intervals, till it has spread the alarm to a great distance. During this time he is most violently agitated; he strikes the ground with his feet; he bounds from rock to rock; he turns and looks round; leaps from one precipice to another; and when he obtains a sight of his enemy he flies from it with all speed. The whistling of the male is more acute than that of the female: it is performed through the nostrils, and is no more than a very strong blowing, and resembles the noise which a man would make by fixing his tongue to the palate, keeping the teeth nearly shut, the lips open, and a little lengthened, and blowing with all his force. The chamois feeds on the best herbage, and chuses the most delicate part of plants, as the flowers and most tender buds. He is not less fond of several aromatic herbs, which grow upon the side of the Alps. He drinks very little while he feeds upon the succulent herbage. He ruminates like the common goat. The food he makes use of strongly marks the warmth of his constitution, as do his large eyes, which are admired for their roundness and sparkling, and the vivacity of his disposition. His head is crowned with two small horns, of about half a foot long; they are of a beautiful black, and rise from the forehead almost betwixt the eyes, and, instead of bending backwards like other animals, they jet forward above the eyes, and bend backward at the extremities in a small circle, and end in a very sharp point. His ears are placed in a very elegant manner near the horns, and there are stripes of black on each side of the face, the rest being of a whitish yellow, which never changes. The horns of this animal are often made use of for the heads of canes; those of the female are less, and not so much bent; and some farriers make use of them for bleeding cattle. The hides of these animals are very strong, nervous, and supple, and when dressed, excellent breeches, vests, and gloves, are made of them; this sort of cloathing is very durable, and of very great service to labouring men. The chamois is a native of cold countries, and generally prefers craggy rocks and high places; they indeed frequent the woods, but it is only those in the highest regions, where the forests consist of firs, larch, and beech trees. These animals have so much dread of heat, that in summer they are only to be found in the caverns of rocks amidst fragments of congealed ice, or in forests where the high and spreading trees form a shade for them, or under rough and hanging precipices that face the north, where the rays of the sun seldom disturbs them. They go to pasture both morning and evening, but seldom during the day. They traverse over rocks with great facility, where the dogs cannot follow them. There is nothing more wonderful than to see them climbing and descending precipices, inaccessible to all other quadrupeds. They mount and descend always in an oblique direction, and throw themselves down a rock of twenty or thirty feet, and alight with great security. In descending they strike the rock with their feet, three or four times, to stop the velocity of their motion; and when they have got upon the base below, they at once seem fixed and secure. In fact, to see them thus leaping among the precipices, they seem rather to have wings than legs, so great is the strength of their nerves. Some writers have pretended that they use their horns for climbing and descending the precipices. I have seen and killed many of these animals, but I never saw them use their horns for that purpose, nor have I ever found any hunter who could confirm this assertion. The chamois ascends and descends precipices with great ease, by the agility and strength of his legs, which are very long; the hind ones being somewhat the longest and always crooked, assist them in throwing themselves forwards, and are of great service by breaking the force of the fall. It is asserted, that when they feed, one of them is deputed to stand sentinel for the security of the rest. I have seen many flocks of these animals, but never observed that to be the case. It is certain that when there are a great number of them there will always be some looking about while the rest are grazing; but there is nothing in this particularly distinguishable from a flock of sheep; for the first who perceives any danger warns all the rest, and in an instant the terror with which he is struck spreads through the whole flock. During the rigours of winter, and in the deep snows, the chamois retreats to the lower forests, and feeds upon the pine-leaves, buds of trees, bushes, or such dry or green shrubs and grass as they can discover by scratching off the snow with their feet. The more craggy and uneven the forest, the more this animal is pleased with its abode. The hunting of the chamois is very difficult, and laborious. The most usual way is by hiding behind some of the clefts of the rocks, and shooting them as they pass; for this method the sportsman is obliged to take great precaution in concealing himself; observing, at the same time, to keep the wind in his face. Others hunt this animal as they do the stag, by placing some of the hunters at all the narrow passages, while others beat round to alarm the game. Men are more proper for this sort of hunting than dogs, who when employed, often disperse the chamois too soon, when they immediately fly to a considerable distance; the men also find it a dangerous sport, for when the animal observes his retreat shut up, he directly makes at the hunter with his head, and frequently knocks him down."

With regard to the specific virtues attributed to the blood of the wild goat, in the cure of certain diseases, especially in the pleurisy, a virtue thought to belong particularly to this animal, and which would indicate it to be of a particular nature, it is now known that the blood of the chamois, and also of the domestic he-goat, has the same properties when fed on the same aromatic herbs; so that even by this property these three animals appear to be united in the same species.

SUPPLEMENT.

Besides the Syrian goat, which we formerly mentioned as having pendulous ears, there is a species in Madagascar, which are much larger, and with pendulous ears so long, that they hang entirely over their eyes, which obliges the animal to be almost continually throwing them back, and therefore whenever pursued, he invariably makes to the rising ground. The accounts which we received of this animal came from M. Comerson, but were not sufficiently particular to determine whether it was a different species or only a variety of the Syrian race with pendulous ears.

M. le Vicomte de Querhoënt says, that the goats left on Ascension Island have increased abundantly, but they appear very thin, and so weak, that men can often outrun them; they are of a very dark brown, much less than our goals, and in the nights conceal themselves in the holes of the mountains.

THE SAIGA.

There is a species of goat found in Hungary, Poland, Tartary, and in South Siberia, which the Russians call _Saigak_, or _Saiga_; it bears a resemblance to the domestic goat in the shape of its body and its hair; but by the form of the horns, and the want of a beard, it approaches nearer to the antelopes, and, in fact, appears to be the shade between those two animals; for the horns of the saiga are in every respect like those of the antelope; they have the same form, transverse rings, longitudinal streaks, &c. and they differ only by the colour. The horns of the antelopes are black and opaque; those of the saiga, on the contrary, are whitish and transparent. Gesner has mentioned this animal under the name of _colus_, and Gmelin under that of _saiga_. The horns which are in the royal cabinet, were sent under the denomination of _the horns of the Hungarian buck_; they are so transparent and so clear, that they are used for the same purpose as tortoise-shell.

The saiga, by its natural habits, resembles more the antelopes, than the wild or chamois goats; for it does not delight in mountainous countries, but lives on the hills and plains. Like them also he moves by bounds and leaps; he is very swift, and his flesh much better eating than that of either the tame or wild goat.[U]

[U] Pallas thinks that the saiga which is found in Hungary, Transylvania, Wallachia, and in Greece, is also to be found in the island of Candia; and he thinks that the _strepsiceros_ of Belon ought to be considered as such. Buffon, however, was not of that opinion, who referred the _strepsiceros_ of Belon to the class of sheep.

THE GAZELLES, OR ANTELOPES.

There have been thirteen species, or, at least, thirteen distinct varieties made of these animals; in this uncertainty, whether they are varieties, or species, we thought it best to treat of them all together, assigning to each a particular name. The first of these animals, and the only one to which we retain the generic name of _gazelle_, is the common _gazelle_, (_fig. 153._) which is found in Syria, Mesopotamia, and the other provinces of the Levant, as well as in Barbary, and in all the northern parts of Africa. The horns of this animal are about a foot long, entirely annulated at the base, lessening into half-rings towards the extremities which are smooth. They are not only surrounded with rings, but also furrowed longitudinally by small streaks. These rings mark the years of their growth, which is commonly about twelve or thirteen. The gazelles in general, and this tribe in particular, greatly resemble the roe-buck in the proportions of the body, natural functions, swiftness, and the brightness and beauty of the eyes. These resemblances would tempt us to think, as the roe-buck does not exist in the same countries with the gazelle, that the latter was only a degeneration of the first; or, that the roe-buck is a gazelle, whose nature had been altered by the influence of the climate and effects of food, did not the gazelles differ from the roe-buck in the nature of their horns; those of the roe-buck are a kind of solid _wood_, which fall off, and are renewed every year, like those of the stag; the horns of the gazelles, on the contrary, are hollow and permanent like those of the goat. The roe-buck has also no gall-bladder, which is to be found in the gazelle. The gazelles have, in common with the roe-bucks, deep pits under the eyes, and they resemble each other still more in the colour and quality of the hair, in the bunches upon their leg, which only differ in being upon the fore-legs of the gazelle, and upon the hinder legs of the roe-buck. The gazelles, therefore, seem to be intermediate animals between the roe-bucks and goats; but, when we consider that the roe-buck is an animal which is to be found in both continents, and that the goats, on the contrary, as well as the gazelles, belong only to the old world, we shall be induced to conclude that the goats and gazelles are more nearly related to each other, than they are to the roe-buck. The only characters peculiar to the gazelles, are the transversed rings and longitudinal depressions on the horns, the bunches of hair on the fore-legs, the thick streaks of black, brown, or red hair upon the lower part of the sides, and three streaks of whitish hair to the internal surface of the ears.

_Engraved for Barr's Buffon_

The second gazelle is an animal found in Senegal, which M. Adanson informs us, is there called _kevel_. It is something less than the former, and nearly of the size of a small roe-buck; it differs also in its eyes, which are much larger; and its horns, instead of being round, are flattened on the sides, and this flattening of the horns is not a sexual difference; the male and female gazelles have them round, or more properly speaking, compressed; in other respects, they entirely resemble each other. They both have yellow-coloured hair, thighs and belly white, the tail black, a brown stripe under the flank, three white streaks in the ears, black horns surrounded with rings, with the longitudinal depressions, &c. but it is certain, that the number of these rings is greater in the kevel than in the gazelle, the last having generally but twelve or thirteen, and the former at least fourteen, and often eighteen or twenty.

The third is called _corine_ (_fig. 154._) from _korin_, the name it bears in Senegal. It greatly resembles the gazelle and the kevel, but is still less than either; its horns are also thinner and smoother, the rings being scarcely discernible. M. Adanson, who communicated to me his description of this animal, says, that it seemed a little tending to the chamois goat, but that it is much smaller, being in length only two feet and a half, and not quite two feet in height; that its ears are four inches and a half long, its tail three inches, its horns six inches long, and not an inch thick; that they are two inches distant from each other at the base, and about five or six at their extremities; that, instead of annular prominences, they have only transverse wrinkles very close to each other in the lower part, and more distant in the upper, and that these wrinkles, which are in the place of rings, are about sixteen in number; that its hair is short, fine, and glossy, yellow on the back and flanks, and white under the belly and the inside of the thighs and a black tail; and that there are some of these animals whose bodies are often sprinkled with irregular white spots.

These differences between the gazelle, the kevel, and the corine, although very apparent, especially in the corine, do not appear to be essential, nor sufficient to divide these animals into different species; for they resemble each other so much in every other respect, that they seem to be all three of the same species, more or less varied by the influence of climate and food. There is much less difference between the kevel and the gazelle, than the corine, whose horns in particular bear no resemblance to those of the other two; but all three have the same natural habits; they assemble and feed together in herds; they are of mild dispositions, and easily accustomed to a domestic state and the flesh of all three is very good to eat. We think ourselves therefore, authorised to conclude that the gazelle and kevel are certainly of the same species, and that it is uncertain, whether the corine be only a variety of the same species or whether it be a different one.

In the royal cabinet of France, there are skins of these three different antelopes, besides which, there is a horn that bears a great resemblance to those of the gazelle and kevel, but much larger; this horn is engraven in the works of Aldrovandus, _Lib._ I. _de Bisulcis, c._ xxi. Its thickness and length seem to indicate a much bigger animal than the common gazelle, and it appears to me to belong to an antelope which the Turks call _tzeiran_, and the Persians _ahu_. This animal, according to Olearius, in some measure resembles our fallow-deer, except being rather of a red than yellow colour; the horns, likewise, are without antlers, and rest upon the back, &c. M. Gmelin, who describes it under the name of _dsheren_ says, it resembles the roe-buck, with this exception, that the horns like those of the wild goat, are hollow and never fall off. He also adds, that in proportion as the horns increase in growth, the cartilage of the larynx thickens, and forms a considerable prominence under the throat when the animals are advanced in years. According to Koempfer the _ahu_ differs not in the least from the stag in its form, but that his horns appear nearer to those of the goat, which are single, black, and annulated, as far as the middle, &c. Some other authors have likewise made mention of this species of antelope under the name of _geiram_ and _jarain_, which it is easy to restore, as well as that of _dsheren_ to the primitive name of _tzeiran_. This antelope is common in South Tartary, in Persia, in Turkey, and is also to be met with in the East Indies.

To these four first species, or races of antelopes, may be added two other animals, which greatly resemble them; the first is called _koba_ at Senegal where the French have stiled it the _great brown cow_; the second is also a native of Senegal, and is there called _kob_, but our countrymen denominate it the _small brown cow_. The horns of the kob greatly resemble those of the gazelle and kevel, but the shape of the head is different, the muzzle is longer, and there are no pits under the eyes. The koba is much larger than the kob; the latter is about the size of the fallow-deer, and the other is as large as the stag. From the remarks of M. Adanson, it appears that the _koba_ is five feet long, from the extremity of the muzzle to the insertion of the tail; that its head is fifteen inches, its ears nine, and its horns from nineteen to twenty, that its horns are flattened on the sides and surrounded with ten or twelve rings, while those of the _kob_ have only eight or nine, and are not more than a foot in length.

The seventh animal of this species is found in the Levant but more commonly in Egypt, and in Arabia. We call it, from its Arabian name, _algazel_; it is shaped pretty much like the other antelopes, and is nearly the size of the fallow-deer, but its horns are long, thin, and but little bent till toward their extremities, when they turn short with a sharp flexion; they are black and almost smooth, and the annular prominence scarcely observable, except towards the base, where they are a little more visible. They are about three feet in length, while those of the gazelle are not more than one foot, those of the kevel fourteen and fifteen inches, and those of the corine (which, nevertheless resembles this the most) only six or seven inches.

The eighth animal is generally called the _Bezoar antelope_, but by the eastern nations _pasan_, which name we retain. A horn of this animal is very well represented in the German Ephemerides, and the figure of the animal itself has been given by Koempfer, but his description is faulty in the horns, which are neither sufficiently long nor straight. His description likewise, does not appear to be exact, for he says, that this animal has a beard like the he-goat; and yet, he has given a figure of it without one, which seems more conformable to truth; for the want of a beard is the principal character by which antelopes are distinguished from goats. This antelope is of the size of our domestic he-goat, and has the colour, shape, and agility of the stag. We have seen a skull of this animal with the horns on it, and two other horns separate. The horns which are engraved in _Aldrovandus, de quad. Bisulcis_, p. 765. C. 24 _de Orige_, bear a great resemblance to these. In most respects, the _algazel_ and the _pasan_, appear to have a great affinity; they are also natives of the same climate, and are found in the Levant, Egypt, Arabia, and Persia; but the algazel feeds upon the plains, and the pasan is only found on the mountains. The flesh of both is very good food.