Part 12
M. Daubenton, who has more minutely inspected the nature of bezoar stones than any other person, thinks they are composed of something similar to that which fastens itself to the teeth of ruminating animals in the form of a shining tartareous matter; and it is evident, from the collection of bezoars, of which there are a great number in the royal cabinet, that there are essential differences between the oriental and occidental bezoars. Thus the East Indian goats, or the gazelles of Persia, are not the only animals which produce the concretions, called bezoars for the chamois, and, perhaps, the wild goat of the Alps, the he-goats of Guinea, and many animals of America, afford this substance; and, if we comprehend under this name all concretions of this nature, which are met with in different animals, we may be assured, that most quadrupeds, excepting carnivorous ones, and even crocodiles and alligators, produce bezoars.
To form, therefore, a clear idea of these concretions it will be necessary to divide them into several classes, and refer them to the animals which produce them, and the climates and food which mostly assist in their production.
First, then, the stones formed in the bladder and kidneys of men, and other animals, must be distinguished from the class of bezoar, and described by the name of _calculi_, their substance being quite different from that of the bezoars; they are easily known by their weight, their urinous smell, and their structure, which is not regular, nor formed with concentric layers, like that of the bezoar.
2. The concretions that are often found in the gall-bladders and liver, of the human species, and other animals, must not be regarded as bezoars; they may easily be distinguished by their lightness, colour, and inflammability; besides they are not formed by layers encircled round a nucleus, as in the bezoar.
3. The balls frequently found in the stomachs of animals, and especially in those that ruminate, are not true bezoars. These balls, which are called _ægagropili_, are composed internally of the hair the animal has licked off his hide and swallowed, or from hard roots, which he could not digest, their external part is encrusted with a viscous substance, something like that of the bezoar. The _ægagropili_, therefore, have nothing in them, except this external layer, in common with the bezoar, and simple inspection is sufficient to distinguish one from the other.
4. _Ægagropili_ are often found in the animals of temperate climates, but never any bezoars. Our oxen and cows, the Alpine chamois, and the porcupine of Italy, produce only _ægagropili_. Animals of hotter countries, on the contrary, only produce bezoars. The elephant, the rhinoceros, the goats, the gazelles of Asia and Africa, the lama of Peru, and others, produce, instead of _ægagropili_, solid bezoars, whose substance and size vary according to the difference of the animals and the climates in which they live.
5. The bezoars, to which such virtues and properties have been attributed, are the oriental kind, which, as we have said, proceed from goats, gazelles, and sheep, which feed on the mountains of Asia. The bezoar of an inferior quality, which is called _occidental_, proceeds from the lamas and pacos, which are found in the mountains of South America. In a word, the goats and gazelles of Africa also produce bezoars, but not of so good a quality as those of Asia.
From all these facts we may conclude, that, in general, the bezoar is only a residue of vegetable nutriment which is not to be found in carnivorous animals, and is peculiar to those who feed on plants; that in the southern mountains of Asia, the herbs being stronger than in any other part of the world, the bezoar, which is the residue of that food, has also more virtues than any other; that in America, where the heat is less, and the mountain herbs being weaker, the bezoars produced there are also inferior; and that in Europe, where the herbs are still weaker, and in all the valleys of both continents, where they are coarse, no bezoars are produced, but only _ægagropili_, which contain nothing but hair, roots, or filaments, which the animal was unable to digest.
THE BUBALUS, AND OTHER ANIMALS WHICH HAVE AN AFFINITY TO THE GAZELLES AND GOATS.
We have already taken notice in our description of the buffalo, of the name bubalus being improperly applied to that animal. This name belonged formerly to the animal which we are now about to describe, and which is of a very distant nature from the buffalo. It resembles the stag, the gazelle, and the ox, in many respects; to the stag, by the size and shape of its body, particularly in its legs, but its horns are permanent, and nearly like those of the largest gazelles, to which it has an affinity both in this character and in its natural habits; its head, however, is much longer than that of the gazelles, or even that of the stags. He resembles the ox by the length of the muzzle and the disposition of the bones of the head, the _cranium_ not advancing beyond the _os frontalis_: these different marks of conformation, joined to its ancient name, being forgotten, is the reason why it has obtained the several names of _busephalus_, the bull-stag, _bucula-cervina_, the cow-hind, the Barbary cow, &c. Even the name of _bubalus_ comes from _bubulus_, and has been applied to this animal from its similitude to the ox.
The head of the bubalus is narrow and very long, the eyes are placed very high, the forehead very short and narrow, the horns permanent, black, thick, and very closely annulated: they are close to each other at the root, but spread very distant at their extremities; they are crooked backwards, and twisted like a corkscrew; his shoulders are so elevated that they form a sort of bunch upon the withers; the tail is nearly a foot long, and furnished with a bunch of hair at its extremity; and the ears resemble those of the antelope. Kolbe calls this animal by the name of _elk_, although it only resembles the elk by its hair being finer at the root, than in the middle or at the points; this character is peculiar to these two animals, for the hair of almost every other quadruped is thicker at the root than at the middle and point. The hair is nearly of the same colour as the elk, though much shorter, thinner, and softer. These alone are the resemblances between the bubalus and the elk; in every other respect these two animals are entirely different. The horns of the elk are larger and heavier than those of the stag, and are renewed every year; the bubalus, on the contrary, does not shed its horns, but they continue their growth during life, and in form and texture are like those of the gazelles. He resembles the gazelles also by the shape of his body, the smallness of his head, the length of his neck, the position of his eyes, ears, and horns, and in the shape and length of the tail. The gentlemen of the Academy of Sciences, to whom one of these animals was presented by the name of the _Barbary cow_, and who adopted that denomination, did not hesitate to acknowledge it to be the _bubalus_ of the ancients. Though we have rejected this denomination of _Barbary cow_, as equivocal and confused, yet as for the rest, we could not do better than copy the exact description those gentlemen have given of this animal, and by which we perceive it is neither gazelle, goat, cow, elk, nor stag, but a particular and distinct species. This animal is also the same that Caius has described under the name of _buselaphus_, and I was surprised that the gentlemen of the Academy did not make this remark, since all the characters which Caius gives to his buselaphus agree with their Barbary cow.
In the royal cabinet is, first, the skeleton of a bubalus the gentlemen of the Academy bad described and dissected, by the name of the Barbary cow. Secondly, a head much larger than that of this skeleton, the horns of which are also much longer and thicker. Thirdly, a part of another head, with horns as large as the foregoing, but their form and direction are different. There are, therefore, in the bubalus, as well as in the gazelles, antelopes, and others, varieties in the size of the body, and in the shape of the horns; but these differences do not appear to be considerable enough to make distinct and separate species.
The bubalus is common in Barbary, and in all the northern parts of Africa; he is nearly of the same nature as the antelopes, and has, like them, short hair, black hide, and his flesh is good to eat.
THE CONDOMA.
The Marquis de Marigny, who embraces every opportunity of encouraging the arts and sciences, shewed me in his cabinet the head of an animal, which, at first sight, I imagined to belong to a large bubalus. It resembled those of our largest stags; but instead of solid horns, like those of the stag, it had two large and hollow ones with a ridge, like those of the he-goat, and with double flexions, like those of the antelope. In examining the royal cabinet for what might be relative to this animal, we found two horns; the first without any mark or name, came from his Majesty's wardrobe; the second was given to me in 1760 by M. Baurhis, commissary of the Marines, with the name of _condoma_ of the Cape of Good Hope affixed to it. This name we have adopted, as the animal which it denotes has never before been described nor denominated.
By the length, thickness, and, above all, the double flexion of the horns, the condoma approaches very near the _strepsiceros_ of Caius; the shape and contours of the horns are exactly the same, and from which it seems reasonable to presume that they are the same animal, especially if we attend to the following reflections: first, Caius was evidently deceived in considering this animal as the strepsiceros of the ancients; for the strepsiceros of the ancients is certainly the antelope, whose head is very different from that of the stag; while Caius affirms, that the head of his strepsiceros is like that of the stags, therefore his strepsiceros is not the same as that of the ancients. Secondly, the horns of the animal Caius describes, are thick, more than three feet in length, covered with rugosities, and not with rings or tubercles; while those of the strepsiceros of the ancients, or antelope, are much thinner and shorter, and are furnished with rings and tubercles. Thirdly, although the horns of the condoma, which is in the Marquis de Marigny's cabinet, as well as those which came from the wardrobe of the king, have been polished and used, it is, nevertheless, plainly perceivable, that they never had rings; this is farther demonstrated by the horns M. Baurhis gave to me, which had never been polished, and yet it was rough, like the horns of the he-goat, and not annulated like those of the antelope; besides, Caius himself says, that the horns of his strepsiceros had only rugosities, therefore his strepsiceros is not the same as that of the ancients, but the animal here spoken of, and which, in fact, is furnished with every character Caius has given to that which he describes.
In looking over the works of travellers for those marks which might have an affinity with the remarkable size of the horns of this animal, we can find none that have a nearer relation to it than those of the animal mentioned by Kolbe, under the name of the _wild goat_ of the Cape of Good Hope. "This goat, says he, to which the Hottentots have not as yet given a name, and which I call the wild goat, is remarkable in many respects; it is about the size of a large stag; its head is very handsome, ornamented with two smooth crooked and pointed horns, about three feet long, and at their extremities about two feet asunder." These characters appear perfectly to agree with the animal in question; but having seen no more than the head, we cannot affirm that the rest of Kolbe's descriptions equally agrees with it; we, therefore, can only presume it as a probability, which requires confirmation by future observations. Kolbe remarks, that "All along the back there runs a white stripe, which ends at the insertion of the tail; another of the same colour crosses this at the bottom of the neck, which it entirely surrounds; there are two more which surround the body, the one behind the fore legs and the other before the hind ones. The colour of the rest of the body is grey, with some reddish spots, except the belly, which is white; it has also a long grey beard, and its legs, though long, are well proportioned."
_Engraved for Barr's Buffon_
THE GUIB.
The Guib (_fig. 156._) is an animal, which, though not noticed by any naturalist or traveller, is very common in Senegal, from whence M. Adanson brought over some of their skins. It resembles the gazelles, especially the nanguer, in the size and shape of its body, in the fineness of its legs, in the form of its head and muzzle, in the eyes and ears, in the length of its tail, and by the want of a beard but every gazelle, especially the nanguer, has the colour of the belly white, while the breast and belly of the guib are of a deep brown. It also differs from the gazelles in the horns, which are smooth, without annular prominences, and have two longitudinal ridges, the one above and the other underneath, forming a spiral twist from the base to the point; they are also a little compressed. In these particulars the guib is more like the goat than the gazelle, nevertheless it is neither the one nor the other, but rather an intermediate species. It is also remarkable for white stripes on a brown ground, that are disposed along and across the animal's body, as if it were covered with a harness. It is a gregarious animal, and they are found in numerous herds in the plains of Podor.
THE GRIM.
This animal is only known to naturalists by the name of _Grimm_, or the _Wild Goat of Grimmius_; and which, as we were not acquainted with the name it bears in its own country, we shall adopt. We find a figure of this animal in the German Ephemerides, which has been copied in the Academical Collection. Dr. Herman Grimmius was the first who mentioned this animal, and what he said of it has been copied by Ray, and afterwards by all the nomenclators. Although his description[X] is incomplete, he denotes two characters so remarkable, that we can have no doubt that the head of an animal of Senegal, given us by M. Adanson, belongs to the goat of Grimmius. The first is a very deep cavity under each eye, so deep, indeed, as to leave but a thin partition of bone between the cavities and the partition of their nose; the second is a tuft of hair standing upright on the top of the head. These are sufficient to distinguish the grimm from every other goat or gazelle. It resembles both, however, not only in the shape of its body, but even in its horns, which are annulated towards the base, and have longitudinal streaks like those of the gazelles; at the same time, they are very short, and bend backwards in a horizontal direction, like the small African goat before mentioned. Besides, from being much smaller, and from having short horns, we are almost led to conclude that this animal forms the shade between the goat and small antelopes.
[X] This animal, on the back and neck, is of a dark ash colour, with a white belly, and is about a foot and a half in height; on the top of its head between the horns is a tuft of black hair, and between each eye and the nostrils, there is a cavity filled with a yellow humour, oily, and viscid, which has some resemblance to castor, and musk, and fills again upon the cavities being emptied. _Grimmius._
There is some reason to think, that the male grimm is alone furnished with horns; for the individual of which Dr. Grimmius has given the description and figure, had no horns: and the head which M. Adanson has given us was, on the contrary, ornamented with two, very short, and almost concealed by the hair, but yet sufficiently visible not to escape the notice of the observer; besides, we shall find, in the history of the chevrotains or small antelopes, that in the chevrotain of Guinea, the male only has horns, whence it is presumable, that it is the same with the grimm species, which in every respect approaches nearer the chevrotain than any other animal.
SUPPLEMENT.
In the year 1777, M. Vosmaër published a description of this animal, which he calls the _Small Beautiful Buck of Guinea_, and from whom we have extracted the following account. "This was one of the most beautiful animals I ever saw; it was sent from Guinea with thirteen others of both sexes, but twelve of them died in their voyage to Holland, and those two which survived were males; these were put into the menagerie of the Prince of Orange, and one of them died the following winter, 1764. They are remarkable timid animals, and are much frightened at any noise, especially at thunder. When they are suddenly surprised, they express their fear by whistling strongly with their nose. The one now living, (in 1766) though very wild at first, is now so familiar, that upon holding a piece of bread to him, and calling him by the name they have given him of _tetje_, he will not only approach, but allow himself to be stroaked. He is a particularly clean animal, and will not suffer the smallest piece of dirt to remain on any part of his body, but is constantly scratching himself with his hind feet. He is very active, and when standing still, keeps one of his fore-legs rather in a bent position, which gives him a graceful appearance. He eats bread, rye, carrots, is fond of potatoes, and is a ruminating animal. His horns are rather large in proportion to his size, and he has a small quantity of hair between them which he rises to a point. He is about the size of a young kid of two months old, and his limbs are extremely well proportioned. His head somewhat resembles that of a roe-buck; his nose is black and naked, but always moist; his upper lip appears as if divided; he has no beard but a kind of small whiskers on the sides, and a wart covered with hair under his chin; his horns are black, about three inches long, quite straight, and end with a sharp point; they are furnished with three rings, which rise a little backward; from the black tuft between the horns, there is a stripe of that colour down to the nose; his ears are large, with some short hairs on the insides, and on the tops, but all the other parts of them are black and naked; the eyes are large, and of a deep brown, between the eyes and nose there are black cavities, from the middle of which a viscid gummy humour exudes, that soon becomes hard and black, but I could never perceive that it contained that odour which Dr. Grimmius and those who have followed him, describe it to possess; the upper part of the neck and the head are of a yellowish grey, the back black, the sides a bright brown, the belly grey, and the limbs white as far as his knees; his legs have a black band, and the hair becomes blackish towards the hoofs; he had no heels, his feet were cloven, he had beautiful black pointed hoofs, and his tail was very short and white, with a black band on the upper part."
THE CHEVROTAINS.
We have given the name of _Chevrotain_ (_tragulus_) to the small animals of the warm regions of Africa and Asia, which almost every traveller has mentioned by the denomination of the _little stag_, or _little hind_. In fact, the chevrotain is a miniature resemblance of the stag, from the shape of its muzzle, lightness of its body, shortness of tail, and form of its legs; but differs greatly in size, the largest never exceeding that of the hare. Some of them are entirely without horns, and those which have any, are hollow, annulated, and nearly resemble those of the gazelles. Their small cloven foot, is also more like that of the gazelle than of the stag; and they differ both from the gazelle and the stag, by not having any depressions or hollows under their eyes: in that particular they approach the goat, but in reality they are neither stags, gazelles, nor goats, but constitute one or more distinct species. Seba gives the figures and descriptions of five chevrotains. The first he calls the _little red Guinea kind without horns_; the second, _the fawn_, _or the young delicate stag of Africa_; the third, _the little young stag of Guinea_; the fourth, _the little red and white hind of Surinam_; and the fifth, _the red-haired African stag_. Of these five chevrotains, the first, second, and third, are evidently the same animal; the fifth, which is larger than the three first, and whose hair is much stronger, and of a deep yellow, seems to be only a variety of the first; the fourth, which the author mentions as an animal of Surinam, appears to be only a second variety of this species, which is found only in Africa and the southern parts of Asia; and I am greatly inclined to think that Seba was misinformed, when he says this animal came from Surinam. Every traveller, who speaks of these little stags, mentions them as being found in Senegal, Guinea, and the East Indies; but not one affirms that he has seen them in America; and if the spotted chevrotain which Seba speaks of, did really come from Surinam, we must presume that it had been transported from Guinea, or from some other southern province of the old continent. But there appears to be a second species of chevrotain, different from all those we have mentioned, which seem to be only simple varieties of the first. This second species has small horns, not more than an inch in length, and the same in circumference: these horns are hollow, black, somewhat crooked, very sharp at the points, and surrounded at the bottom with two or three transverse rings. We have seen the feet and one of the horns of this animal in the royal cabinet, which sufficiently demonstrate it is either a chevrotain or a very small gazelle. Kolbe, speaking of this animal, says, it has horns like those of the stag, and that the branches were in proportion to their age; this is an evident error, which a single inspection of the horns will clearly prove.
These animals are of an elegant make, and their limbs finely proportioned for their size. But though they leap and bound with prodigious swiftness, yet, apparently, they cannot continue it long, for the Indians often hunt and frequently knock them down with their sticks: they are greatly sought after on account of the superior excellence of their flesh.
By comparing the different testimonies of travellers it appears, first, that the chevrotain without horns is peculiar to the East Indies; secondly, that the one with horns is the chevrotain of Senegal, and which is called _guevei_ by the natives; thirdly, that only the male _guevei_ is furnished with horns; fourthly, that the chevrotain marked with white spots, and which Seba says comes from Surinam, is, on the contrary, a native of the East Indies, especially of Ceylon, where it is called _memina_, (_fig. 158._) and we must therefore, conclude, that there are but two kinds of chevrotains, namely, the _memina_, (_fig. 157._) or the Indian chevrotain without horns; and the _guevei_, or Guinea chevrotain with horns; that the five species spoken of by Seba are only varieties of the memina; and that the smallest kind, which in Senegal is called _guevei-kaior_, is only a variety of the guevei.