Gazelle

“ A herd of above a hundred gazelles is seized with a panic at the sudden rising of a bird, or the mere stirring of a leaf. If the hound but approaches the gazelle, it throws itself upon its back with its legs up and looks at one with such a pitiful expression out of its lustrous melancholy eyes, that one cannot help feeling for the poor dumb animal. As my eyes were following the flight of the gazelles, I suddenly caught sight of a mirage rising in the south-east. These deceptive illusions of the air are by no means of infrequent occurrence in the Persian plain. ”

“ Black luminous eyes are beautiful, and wives keep in their tents a little deer, the gazelle, which is famous for the brilliancy and beauty of its eyes. By constantly looking at this charming pet the Arab wife hopes to bring into the world some day a child with eyes as beautiful as the eyes of the gazelle. Well, the highest function of art ought to do for us, or at least for the world, what the statue and the gazelle were expected to do for Grecian and Arab mothers—to make possible higher conditions than the existing ones. ”

“ The gazelle is easily tamed, becoming in a short time very familiar, and being much more gentle, as well as more graceful, than the common antelope. Its movements are the most airy and elegant imaginable. ”

“ The gazelle gives birth to her young on the topmost point of a rock, and it would fall into the abyss and be crushed to death, if I did not send an eagle thither to catch it up and carry it to its mother. ”

“ A gazelle, started by the huntsman's pack, could not have thrown more piercing glances at every avenue of escape than this excited girl did at every cross street, and indeed at everything but the human faces that passed her. ”

“ Haamdaanee did as the gazelle bade him. The princess was told that the little animal was to set out immediately and would put all in order at the palace, so she was willing to wait a while longer before seeing her husband’s treasures.
The gazelle at once started out on its journeyings. It ran on and on for several days, and then it came to another city even handsomer than that of the king, but when it entered the streets everything was silent and [93] deserted. There was not a soul to be seen. ”

“ A gazelle under a palm tree is placed on the knave of Money, which recalls the worship of Osiris, in which Thoth plays such an important part. According to a legend, the gazelle gives notice of the rising of the waters of the river Nile by fleeing from its wonted feeding grounds on the banks to the recesses of the desert, long before the first signs of the coming flood are noticed by mankind. ”

“ The gentle nature of the Gazelle is as proverbial as its grace and swiftness, and is well expressed in the large, soft, liquid eye, which has formed from time immemorial the stock comparison of Oriental poets when describing the eyes of beauty. ”

“ The gazelle is also very fond of crisply-toasted bread, a taste which must be acquired in domestication. It is a courageous animal, and will come readily to the assault, butting fiercely when attacked. In taking a gazelle away from Arabia, it should be carefully guarded against cold and damp, and if not provided with water-proof covering to its feet, would soon die if exposed to the wet decks of a ship.
We had lost at Aden our fellow-passenger, whom I have mentioned as having assumed the Turkish dress for the purpose of penetrating into the interior of Abyssinia. ”

“ We eat rice; isn’t red millet good enough for a gazelle that cost only a dime?”
“Oh, but he is no ordinary gazelle. He should be as dear to you as the apple of your eye. If sand got in your eye it would trouble you.” ”

“ Still winding our way up the Wadi; the mountains getting higher and steeper as we go on. Spied a most beautiful gazelle at about 10 o’clock, feeding on the scrub at the entrance to a ravine; not the common Dorcas gazelle, but quite a different sort. The Arabs called it a white gazelle, and said it was rare. I had a good look through my glass at it. It was nearly all white, with a few black markings on it, and lyre-shaped horns. It had evidently seen our caravan and was slowly making for the mountains. ”

“ During the day, when crossing the numerous sand-dunes, it helped to pass the time to note the many and varied footprints often clearly impressed on their surface. Of these the most numerous were those of the gazelle, which are somewhat like those of a sheep, but sharper and more closely compacted ”

“ The enclosed space is situated near some rivulet or spring to which, in summer, the gazelles resort. When the hunting is to begin, many peasants assemble, and watch till they see a herd of gazelles advancing from a distance towards the enclosure, into which they drive them: the gazelles, frightened by the shouts of these people, and the discharge of fire-arms, endeavour to leap over the wall, but can only effect this at the gaps, where they fall into the ditch outside, and are easily taken, sometimes by hundreds. ”

“ The camp is accordingly split up, Mr. Phillipps and I, with a few camels and attendants, remaining behind. The sand-storm is abating, but the heat is very great and trying to Jules. A gazelle was shot to-day. I cannot say that gazelle is a particularly toothsome morsel under our circumstances. We are obliged to cook it on the same day that it has been killed. The flesh of a desert [138] gazelle is hard, and has very little flavour. Our comrades left us about 10 a.m., and directly they had gone down came the vultures for pickings. ”

“ The distances from the Mediterranean to the second cataract are as follow:—
It may be interesting to the sportsman to know that, [Pg 99] in the course of his river trip, he will occasionally find "food for powder." Game is by no means abundant, but here and there a random shot may be had at a gazelle; coveys of partridges have been seen; rock-pigeons are numerous; and the rifle may afford some sport in the land of crocodiles.
The gazelle, ibex, kebsh (or wild sheep) , hare, fox, jackal, wolf, and hyæna, are still found in the valley of the Nile, or in the desert. ”

“ I think the gazelle we killed was identical with the antelope of our western plains. He had a skin of the same color and a white tail, that retreating flag-of-truce so familiar to our overland emigrants. His feet, head, and body were shaped like the antelope’s, and his eye had that liquid tenderness so often observed in the agile rover near the foot of the Rocky Mountains. Gazelles abound through the Amoor valley to within a hundred miles of the sea-coast. Many are killed every autumn and winter in the valley of the Zeya and along the middle Amoor. ”

“ Chance lives and flourishes, and passes much time in the water, and has quite a travelled mind. Gazelle is lying on his shawl, with three small baskets before him, filled respectively with rice, leaves, and grass, and is growing rather tall. ”

“ I have repeatedly startled the gazelle from a brake only a few yards in front of me, and once, when ensconced out of sight in a storax bush, I watched a pair of gazelles with their kid, which the dam was suckling. Ever and anon both the soft-eyed parents would gambol with it as though fawns themselves.”
Canon Tristram describes the mode of hunting Gazelles practised by the Arabs as follows:—
“The usual way of hunting the Gazelle is by lying in wait, either at its watering-places, which are always known to the Arabs, or in the defiles in the rocky districts. ”

“ Such, in the present day in Syria, is the name of the gazelle that is for the most part white with a yellow back and yellow stripes in the face (Antilope leucoryx, in distinction from Arab. ‛ifrı̂, the earth-coloured, dirty-yellow Antilope oryx, and Arab. ḥmrı̂, himrı̂, the deer-coloured Antilope dorcas) ; the Talmud also (b. Zebachim, 113b; Bathra, 74b) combines ראימא and אורזילא or ארזילא, a gazelle (Arab. gazâl) , and therefore reckons the reêm to the antelope genus, of which the gazelle is a species ”

“ The Gazelle (Gazella dorcas) is by far the most abundant of all the large game in Palestine; indeed it is the only wild animal of the chase which an ordinary traveller has any chance of seeing. Small herds of gazelles are to be found in every part of the country, and in the south they congregate in herds of nearly 100 together. One such herd I met with at the southern end of the Jebel Usdum, or salt mountain, south of the Dead Sea, where they had congregated to drink of the only sweet spring within several miles, Ain Beida. ”

“ The gazelle is an attribute of all fountain courtyards. It lives and thrives in captivity, can be tamed to follow you like a dog, and is as affectionate as a caressing kitten. It will eat condensed milk, dates, cabbage and cigarettes; but it balks at Pear’s soap.
In the open country the nomad Arab or even the house-dweller that one meets by the roadside is an agreeable, willing person, and when{26} he understands French (as he frequently does) , he is quite as “useful” as would be his European prototype under similar conditions. ”

“ Young gazelles are beautiful little creatures, which in their own country can be kept and tamed without difficulty; in cold climates they require, however, shelter and protection in cold and bad weather. ”

“ And the gazelle said, "Gentry, stay here, gentry and slaves; leave me and Sultan Darai to go on to the house." And they said, "Very good." And the gazelle went off with its master till they arrived at the house.
The old woman who was in the house, when she saw the gazelle, came and jumped with screams and cries of joy, and dancing about and running, till she came to the gazelle's feet, and she took it up and kissed it. The gazelle said, "Old woman, leave me alone; the one to be carried is our master here, and the one to be kissed is our master ”

“ From the shelter of any of the higher clumps of vegetation one can, with the aid of field-glasses, keep a careful look-out over the surrounding scrub-covered country, and, once gazelles have been located, getting within range is merely a matter of patience and careful stalking. After sighting the quarry, it is best to proceed alone, as natives have an exasperating way of exposing themselves at the most critical moments. On my last visit to the north of the oasis there were a good many gazelles about, including a herd of some seven or eight ”

“ These animals are spread, in innumerable herds, from Arabia to the river Senegal in Africa. Lions and panthers feed upon them; and man chases them with the dog, the cheetah, and the falcon. The height of the Gazelle is about twenty inches, the skin beautifully sleek, its body extremely graceful, its head unusually light, its ears flexible, its eyes most brilliant and glancing, and its legs as slender as a reed. ”

“ After nightfall they frequently descend to the cultivated lands to browse on the crops, almost invariably retiring to the outlying desert areas at the first traces of dawn, though I recollect on one occasion bringing a laggard to bag very early in the morning on the edge of a barley-field at Um el Dabâdib. Gazelles are, in fact, seldom to be seen, unless carefully sought for in their special haunts; one might remain for months in the inhabited portions of the depression and only be aware of their existence from occasionally meeting with their spoor. ”

“ Sometimes they dig pitfalls, and drive the Gazelles into them by beating a large tract of country, and gradually narrowing the circle. Sometimes they use nets, such as have already been described, and sometimes they line the sides of a ravine with archers and spearmen, and drive the herd of Gazelles through the treacherous defile. ”

“ The eagle is carried on the pummel of the saddle."
"And how are the gazelles taken and the eagles recaptured?"
"They answer to the lure just like a hawk. The gazelles come down into the desert after the rains to feed among the low bushes, rosemary and lavender. In the plain, of course, they have no chance, the bird overtakes them at once; fleet as they are, wings are fleeter, and they are over-taken with incredible ease, the bird just flutters after them. But the hunt is more interesting when there are large rocks between which the gazelles can take cover ”

“ Few regions iu the world more abound in animal life than this zone of Saharian steppe lands. Here the gazelles graze together in flocks of tens and hundreds, and in many places the traveller might fancy himself in the midst of a vast park well stocked with domestic animals. ”

“ When the grass is dry, they set it on fire, and place themselves at the passage which the gazelles must take to escape, where they watch for them, and when they appear attack them with arrows, sagayes, and clubs, making prodigious slaughter. ”

“ Fig. 26) , which is decorated with a group of wonderfully life-like lions pursuing each other round the mace. In the innermost circle, a troop of gazelles, such as are often seen depicted on cylinder-seals (cf. Fig. 51) , march along in file; the middle register forms the circus for a variety of animals Pg 257all marching in the same direction as the gazelles. A bull, a winged griffin, an ibex and a gazelle, are followed by two bulls who are being attacked by lions, and a griffin, a bull, and a gazelle, who are all respectively being attacked by leopards. ”

“ When a herd of wild gazelles is found, the tame one is sent among them, but he no sooner approaches than one of the males of the wild herd advances to oppose him, and in butting with his horns is soon entangled in the noose. ”

“ The horns of the old males are nine or ten inches long, bending outward and then inward, like the sides of a lyre, also backward at the base and forward at the tips, tapering to a point, surrounded by thirteen or fourteen permanent rings, the rings near the base being closest together and most perfect. The ears are long, narrow, and pointed; the eyes very large, soft, and black; there is a tuft of hair on each knee; the tail is short, with black hairs on its upper surface only, and at its tip. The gazelle is a native of the North of Africa, and of Syria, Arabia and Persia. ”