»775' • September. growling of a dog. Yet, as I was informed by feveral people that' the cries of the Cape tigérs, or father leopards, pretty much refembled this, I am uncertain whether the noife I heard always proceeded from the bofcb-bok. Without doubt, it appears ibihethirig extraordinary, that the cries of the tiger and a g a z e l ihould be like each- other ; but, perhapsf the tiger may have the gift of being able to imitate bofch-boks, in order to lead them affray ; juft as the byàna has the power to imitate, for a iimilar purpofe, all kinds of animals. Nay, there is likewife fome refem- blance between the cries of a lion and that of an ojîricb ; though between thefe animals there is much lefs affinity : and, indeed, there is no foundation for any conjedtures concerning the caufe of this fimilitude. The gnometie, called alfo the ervsetie, is a little animal of the hart or gazel kind, of the fize of a hare, and is, perhaps, the cervus Guineenfts of L i n n æ u s , the antilope royal of P e n n a n t , and the cbevrotain de Guinée of B u f - f o n . I have frequently perceived the traces and other marks o f this diminutive creature, but had not the good fortune actually to fee more than one o f them p' and that only in a hafty manner, as it was bounding about in a grove at Sitficamma. . . . Of hctres there are at M i l two différent’forts in Hdutni- qu-ai, and in the other partk o f Africa. Th e One is almoft the fame with our common hare; but of the other I .find it difficult to pronounce, whether'it be abfolutely the fame With the lepus 'Capenfist 'Syft. -Nat.- càüda Idngitudine capitis, pedibUs rubris, or not! The - feet excepted, ■ the. charadte- riftic marks are the fame’; for the feet and body o f this ^ were # were of the fame colour as our common hares are in.fum- „ ms- - | n r* ' ' September. iper P, and the tail was almoft: o f an equal length with the hare, as: mentioned in the Syjlema Naturce. I found it moreover broad at the bafe, and diminiffiing by degrees, fo as. to terminate in a point. .Underneath and on the iides, the tail was as white, as chaUf, but above there was extended along it a ftripe as, black as a coal. This description I drew up from a young leveret o f this fpecies,. ,which was brought to the Cape alive, and was the only one that I have ever feen. The ■ buffalos (vide Plate II. Vol. II.) were of a fort entirely, different from all hitherto known by this name, which, is, Sufficiently manifeft from the defcription I have already inferted in the Memoirs o f the Swediffi Academy for the ygar 1779? It is'.true* I had no opportunity in Houtmquas,, either 1 to. fee or -fhoot any o f tjhem ; but I fre-1 quently met with, the frefh traces,of th em .S u c h dangerous neighbours made it rather unfafe to botanize here ; for though the buffalos do not abfolutely go in fearch of mankind or the brute" creation on purpofe to do them mif- chief,, except they are previoufly irritated,- neverthelefs, their perverfe difpofxtion and great ftrength of body render them extremely dangerous, When one meets them in themarrow paths, called buffalo-roads, where the wood on each fide is frequently fo thick fet, as not to allow one to make way either to right or left. In' a journey that Dr. T h u n b e r g , fome years before, took into Houtniquas, one o f his company had very imprudently tied two o f his horfes together, one behind thp other, and drove them before * ’Iri the colder climates of Europe, the common hare is white in winter. him
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