Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-05-12
Gazslle Hunting.

Every one, who has any perception of
the beautiful, loves the very name OF the
"gazelle," whose eye is the softesi, most
melting aud most beautiful in the world,
whose form is the perfection Of delicacy
and grace; and the following excellent
description Of the animal, from the pen
Of Sir Samuel Baker, the African ux-
plorer and hunter, will be read with in
terest:
ain the evening went out stalking in
the desert and returned with FIVE fue
buck gazelles. These beautiful creatures
so exactly resemble the color Of the sandy
deserts which they inhabit, that they are
most difficult to distinguish, and their
extreme shyness renders stalking upon
foot very uncertain. ! accordingly en-
ployed an Arab to lead camel, under
cover of which could generally manage
to approach within hundred yards. A
buck gazelle weighs from sixty to seventy
pounds, and is the perfection Of muscu-
lar development. No person who has
seen. the gazelles in confnementin tenn
perate climate can form an. idea of the
beauty Of the animal in its native desert.
Born in the scorching sun, nursed on the
burning sand OF the treelese and shadow
less wilderness, the gazelle is among the
antelope tribe as the Arab horse is among
its brethren, the high bred and superla-
tive beauty of the race. The skin is as
sleek as satin, of a color difficult to de-
scribe, as it varies between the lightest
mauve and yellowsh brown; the belly is
snow white the legs from the knee down
ward, are also white, and are as fine as
though carved from ivory; the hoof is
beautifully shaped, and tapers to a sharp
point; the head of the buck is orna-
mented by gracefully curved annulsted
horns, perfectly black, and generally from
nine TO twelve inches long in the bend;
the eye is the wellknown perfection
the full, large, soft, and jet-black eye of
the gazelle. Although the desert appears
incapable of supporting animal life, there
are in the undulating surface numerous
shallow sandy ravines, in which are tufts
of herbage so coarse that, as source
of nourishment, it would be valueless to
a domestic animal; nevertheless, upon
this dry and wiry substance the delicate
gazelles subsist; and although they
never fatten, they are exceedingly hesby
and in excellent condition. Entirely free
from fat, and nevertheless mass of
muscle and sinew, the gazslle is the fat
test of the antelope tribe. Proud of its
strength, and confident in its agility, it
will generally bound perpendicularly
four or FIVE feet from the ground several
times before it starts at full speed, as
though to test the quality of its sinews
before the race. The Arabs course them
with greyhounds, and sometimes they are
caught by running several dogs at the
same time but this result is from the
folly of the gazelle, who at first distances
his pursuers like the wind but, secure
in its speed, it halts and faces the dogs
exhausting itself by bounding exultingly
in the air; in the meantime the grey.
hounds are closing up, and diminishing
the chance of escape. AS rule, not
withstanding this absurdity of the gazelle,
it has the best of the race, and the grey
hounds return crestfallen and beaten.
Altogether it is the most beautiful speci-
men of game that exists, far too lovely
and harmless to be hunted and killed for
the mere love of sport But when dinner
depends upon the rife, beauty is no pro-
lection; accordingly, throughout our de-
sert march we lived upon gazelles, and ]
am sorry to confess that became very
expert at stalking these wary little ami
mails. The flesh, although tolsrably
good, has slight favor of musk; this is
not peculiar to the gszelle, as the odor is
common to most Of the small varieties of
antelopes."