Part 23

Commencing with Morocco, there is no doubt, we believe, from the testimony of various travellers, that a small Gazelle of this group does occur in the interior of that country and that it is probably of this species, but we have never had an opportunity of examining Moroccan specimens. In Algeria we have more definite information available.

From the days of Shaw the “Common Gazelle” has been recognized as an inhabitant of the “Barbary States.” The French naturalist Loche included it in his catalogue of 1858, but is not clear in distinguishing it from its allied species. Canon Tristram, in the ‘Great Sahara,’ published two years later, informs us that this Gazelle is found in small troops in every portion of the Sahara, and is the principal large game to be depended on for food, especially in the neighbourhood of the dayats beyond Laghouat, where pasturage is abundant. The fawns are dropped in the early summer, and follow the dam until towards the end of the autumn. The Bedouin gather the droppings, which have a strong aromatic scent, to mix with snuff.

In the pages of the ‘Exploration Scientifique de l’Algérie’ devoted to Mammals, likewise from the pen of Loche, we find a little more information concerning the Algerian Gazelles, but it does not appear that Loche was at all clear in discriminating the various species that are there met with.

Good and precise information has, however, been given us on this subject by Mr. Alfred E. Pease, M.P., in his article on the “Antelopes of the Aures and Eastern Algerian Sahara,” published in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for 1896, the principal portion of which we must quote at full length:--

“It is with great respect and diffidence that I object to the Dorcas being described (see P. Z. S. 1894, p. 467) as ‘the common Gazelle of the Algerian Sahara generally,’ for the Dorcas is not met with in the Sahara proper, so far as I can learn, and in the Eastern Algerian Sahara at least is not to be found south of lat. 33°. The Dorcas in the Eastern Province and in Tunisia is the common Gazelle of the plains immediately south of the Aures Range, which form a sort of transitional zone between the mountains and the Sahara proper. Roughly speaking, this Gazelle is confined to a belt of country not more than 120 or 150 miles wide (and generally very much narrower). It may be found in plains, or even in low hills, within the southern mountain-chains, and on or near some of the sand-dunes on the confines of the Chotts. I have frequently seen it in the neighbourhood of the Chotts, but once into the Oued Souf and sand desert and all trace of it is lost and the Rhime takes its place. In the district of Sef el Menadi, where I have been twice with Sir E. G. Loder, and where he secured the first specimen of the Gazelle (the Rhime) which now bears his name, we found both Rhime and Dorcas on the same ground; and this place may be marked as the most northern limit which the Rhime ever inhabits, as it never leaves the sand, I think, whilst the Dorcas does not go much further south than this. Probably there are several of these isolated islands of sand where the Rhime may be found.

“The best male Dorcas that I have shot had horns a little over 31 cm. in length, the best female 25 cm. (measured along the curve).

“They vary a good deal in colour according to the ground they frequent, and there is a slight variety among members of the same band. In 1893 there was on the plain of Aïn Naga a pure white one, no doubt an albino; but though my hunter had frequently seen it, he was never able to find it for me.”

Passing on to the Beylik of Tunis, we have excellent notes on the Gazelles of this country drawn up by Mr. Joseph I. S. Whitaker, F.Z.S., published in the same volume of the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings.’ Mr. Whitaker writes of this Gazelle as follows:--

“The common Dorcas Gazelle is to be met with throughout the greater part of Central and Southern Tunisia, frequenting the vast semi-desert plains abundant in those districts, but not the more sandy inland country of the extreme south of the Regency, where it is replaced by another species. So far as I can ascertain, the Dorcas Gazelle never occurs in the Tell country; but I have observed it in the neighbourhood of Kairouan, which is probably the extreme northern limit of the range of this species in the Regency. On the extensive plains to the west of Gafsa I have found it particularly abundant; and I understand it is plentiful in the neighbourhood of the Chott Djerid, and throughout a considerable portion of the coast-country of the south, but not in the true desert further inland, where sand-dunes take the place of the stony scrub-covered plains. It may occasionally stray into the sand country, but this is exceptional.

“In winter the Dorcas Gazelle congregates in large herds, often numbering over one hundred individuals; but in spring these herds break up, and one then meets with the Gazelles in small parties or singly. The female G. dorcas, I am told, gives birth to but one young one at a time, and this generally in the month of April.

“The horns of this species vary considerably both in size and in shape. As a rule, those of the adult male are stout, deeply annulate, and lyrate, measuring from 10 to 13 inches in length along the front curve; those of the female are much shorter, straighter, smoother, and more slender.

“I may here mention that I have specimens of the Dorcas Gazelle from the country south of the Chott Djerid, which are somewhat paler in colour than the ordinary form. No doubt this variation in colouring is due to some difference in the nature of the soil and surroundings of the districts from whence these particular specimens came.”

So little is known of the natural history of Tripoli and Barca that we can only presume that the Dorcas Gazelle ranges through these countries on its way to Egypt, where it is well known to be abundant in the Western Desert. Sclater examined large numbers of both sexes of this species in the Zoological Garden of Gizeh near Cairo in 1895 from this locality, and several specimens from the same source have been received in exchange by the Zoological Society of London. Our figures of both sexes of the Dorcas Gazelle (Plate LVII.) have been prepared by Mr. Smit from examples thus obtained.

In the eastern desert of Egypt the Dorcas Gazelle appears in these days to be not nearly so common. Mr. E. N. Buxton, who traversed the eastern desert in his expedition after Capra sinaitica, tells us that two or three Gazelles together were the most he ever saw at one time. Between the Nile and the granite mountains 80 miles to the east, a very arid district, Mr. Buxton only saw Gazelles once. They were more numerous among the foot hills of the Kettar range and the porphyry mountains, for the obvious reason that there is more vegetation there.

The Gazelles frequently depicted in the paintings of the ancient Egyptian tombs and temples were, no doubt, usually Gazella dorcas in Lower, and G. isabella in Upper Egypt, although they were probably also well acquainted with G. arabica. Dr. Hartmann in his interesting disquisition on the animals of these paintings (Zeitschr. f. Aegyptische Sprache und Alterthumskunde, 1864, p. 22) gives us the hieroglyphic symbols of the Gazelle, and its corresponding name as “Gahés.” It was evidently a common object of chase even in those days.

Crossing over into the Holy Land, we find the Dorcas Gazelle registered in Canon Tristram’s ‘Fauna and Flora of Palestine’ as met with in all suitable localities. From the same author’s ‘Natural History of the Bible’ we extract the following passages relating to this favourite animal:--

“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. Though generally considered an animal of the desert and the plains, the gazelle appears at home everywhere. It shares the rocks of Engedi with the wild goats; it dashes over the wide expanse of the desert beyond Beersheba; it canters in single file under the monastery of Marsaba. We found it in the glades of Carmel, and it often springs from its leafy covert on the back of Tabor, and screens itself under the thorn bushes of Gennesaret. Among the grey hills of Galilee it is still ‘the roe upon the mountains of Bether,’ and I have seen a little troop of gazelles feeding on the Mount of Olives, close to Jerusalem itself. While in the open grounds of the south it is the wildest of game, and can only be approached, unless by chance, at its accustomed drinking-places, and that before the dawn of morning; in the glades of Galilee it is very easily surprised, and trusts to the concealment of its covert for safety. 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. A more wholesale mode is practised in the Houran, by driving a herd into a decoy-enclosure, with a pitfall on the other side, where they are easily taken. When in company with great sheikhs, I have more than once had an opportunity of witnessing the chase of the Gazelle, after the only fashion which the high-bred Bedouin thinks sportsmanlike, viz. with the greyhound or the falcon, or more often with both combined. When the greyhound, which is the large Persian dog, with long silky ears and silky tail, is employed alone, success is very uncertain, and the ‘roe’ often ‘delivers itself from the hand of the hunter.’ When the chase is conducted with the falcon alone, the bird is trained to dash repeatedly at the head of the victim, taking an instinctive care not to impale itself on the horns (which, nevertheless, often happens), and by its feints so to delay the quarry that the horsemen are able to come up with it. But the favourite chase is by both bird and dog. The birds are first swung off at the Gazelle, and make repeated swoops, while the greyhound gains upon it and seizes it. With a well-trained bird the poor beast can rarely escape in this chase, unless he have a long start of the hunter. The flesh of the Gazelle, though of high repute, we did not find so savoury as that of the wild goat. Indeed it was generally very dry and always lean, but our taste is not that of the Arabs.”

In the desert country east of the Jordan, Canon Tristram tells us, the Dorcas Gazelle is replaced by the Arabian Gazelle (G. arabica); but a Gazelle, probably of this species, is found in the Syrian Desert north of Damascus, as testified by many writers.

In his interesting volume on ‘Palmyra and Zenobia,’ Dr. William Wright, describing his journey between Damascus and Palmyra, says:--

“We passed several gazelle-traps near Karyetan. Little walls converge to a field from a great distance, increasing in height as they approach the field. The field is walled round, leaving gaps at intervals, outside of which there are deep pits. The Gazelles, led on by curiosity, and guided by the little walls, march boldly into the field, and when they are startled, they rush out wildly in a panic, at the breaches, and tumble into the pits. Sometimes forty or fifty are taken out of a pit alive at one time.”

But, as we are informed in the valuable papers on the Mammals of Asia Minor published by Messrs. Danford and Alston in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for 1877 and 1880, the Dorcas Gazelle ranges far north of Syria. Danford states that it is “not uncommon” on the plain of Tchukurova and about Tarsus and Adana in the south-east of Asia Minor, and that it is “common” in the wooded valley of the Pyramus on the plain of Bazardjik and extends thence into the stony wooded uplands on the right bank of the Northern Euphrates.

When taken young, the Dorcas Gazelle is easily tamed and becomes very docile and affectionate. It is frequently kept in captivity by the Arabs and thus passes into the hands of Europeans who visit the East. As will be seen by reference to the Zoological Society’s List of Animals, specimens of this species reach the Gardens every year. But they cannot be said to thrive in the climate of England, where they miss the bright sun and dry air of their native deserts, and seldom produce young.

The series of examples of this Gazelle in the National Collection is by no means a full one, and wild-killed examples with ascertained localities from different parts of its range are much wanted. At the present time, besides a number of old specimens without localities, there are only in the collection an adult male from Biskra in Algeria presented by Sir Edmund Loder, a pair of skins from the same place presented by Messrs. Rowland Ward and Co., and a skull from Egypt presented by the late Sir Gardner Wilkinson. The accompanying illustration (fig. 57) gives a front view of a good head of this Gazelle prepared by Mr. Smit from these specimens.

January, 1898.

Head of the Dorcas Gazelle, ♂.

(From specimens in the British Museum.)]