The Interior Of The Country Is Said To Be Very Beautiful, Abundantly
Watered By Refreshing Springs, And Shaded By Groves
Of date-trees.
Amongst its animal productions, the most beautiful is the gazelle,
which, properly speaking, is only to be
Found in Arabia; a delicate
and lovely creature, with the soft black eye which has been from time
immemorial the theme of poets. 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. It is fond of describing a circle in
a succession of bounds, jumping off the ground on four legs, and
touching it lightly as it wheels round and round. At other times, it
pirouettes upon the two fore feet, springing round at the same time
like an opera-dancer; in fact, it would appear as if Taglioni, and all
our most celebrated artistes, had taken lessons from the gazelle,
so much do their chefs-d'oeuvre resemble its graceful motions.
When domesticated, the gazelle loves to feed upon roses, delighting
apparently in the scent as well as the taste. It is the fashion in the
East to add perfume to the violet, and I found these gazelles would
eat with much zest roses that had been plentifully sprinkled with
their extract, the goolabee paanee, so greatly in request. The
gazelle is also very fond of crisply-toasted bread, a taste which must
be acquired in domestication.
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