Buffon's Natural History. Volume 08 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &cBuffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
History
Buffon's Natural History. Volume 08 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c
Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
Natural history
Mr. Russel, in his History of Aleppo, says, that near that city there
are two sorts of gazelles; the one called the _mountain gazelle_, which
is the most beautiful, and whose hair on the neck and back is of a deep
brown; the other, called the _gazelle of the valley_, which is neither
so swift nor so well made as the first, and whose hair is also much
paler. He adds, that these animals run so quick and so long that the
swiftest dogs cannot catch them, without the assistance of a falcon;
that in winter the gazelles are lean, but yet their flesh is of a good
flavour; that in summer it abounds with fat, like our venison; and that
those which are fed at home do not eat so well as the wild ones. From
this testimony of Mr. Russel, and from that of M. Hasselquist, we may
perceive that the gazelles of Aleppo are not the common gazelles, but
those of Egypt, whose horns are straight, long, and black, and whose
flesh is excellent eating. We find also from these testimonies, that
they are half domestic animals; that they have been early tamed, and
that consequently many different varieties or kinds have been formed
among them, as well as in other domestic animals. These Aleppo gazelles
are the same therefore as those we have called algazells, and are still
more abundant in the Thebaid and Upper Egypt than the environs of
Aleppo. They feed on aromatic herbs and the tender bark of young trees:
they are commonly found in herds, or rather in families, consisting of
five or six. Their cry resembles that of the goat. They are hunted not
only with dogs, assisted by the falcon, but also with the _ounce_[W].
[W] See history of this animal, page 68, vol. VII.
In some places they take the wild gazelles by means of a tame one, to
the horns of which they fasten a snare made of ropes. 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. In this struggle they both commonly fall to the ground, when the
hunter coming up kills the one and disengages the other.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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