Although The Desert Appears Incapable Of
Supporting Animmial Life, There Are In The Undulating Surface
Numerous Shallow Sandy Ravines, In Which Are Tufts Of A Herbage
So Coarse That, As A 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 fleshy and in excellent condition.
Entirely free from fat, and nevertheless a mass of muscle and
sinew, the gazelle is the fastest 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
greyhounds are closing up, and diminishing the chance of escape.
As a rule, notwithstanding this absurdity of the gazelle, it has
the best of the race, and the greyhounds return crestfallen and
beaten. Altogether it is the most beautiful specimen 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 rifle,
beauty is no protection; accordingly, throughout our desert march
we lived upon gazelles, and I am sorry to confess that I became
very expert at stalking these wary little animals.
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