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Updated: June 26, 2025
"This is the finest sight I ever witnessed," observed Swinton. "I have heard that the gemsboks' horns are sometimes fatal to the lion, but I could hardly credit it. They have passed nearly through his body; the points are under the skin." "Now we know, master, why gemsbok have his nose to the ground and his horn pointed," said Bremen; "he saw the lion, and fought him to save his herd."
It is bold and dangerous especially when wounded and will give battle to the hunter even, it is said, when that hunter chances to be the lion himself! The true Oryx, or Milk-white Antelope, mentioned by early writers, is a kindred species to the Gemsbok; and is found in Northern Africa in Sennaar, Nubia, Abyssinia, and Senegal.
A shot from Alexander at last brought one of these splendid animals to the ground, while the others fled off to a distance, so as to give no hopes of again coming up with them; and the party on foot, as well as the horsemen, now proceeded to the spot where the gemsbok lay dead.
Among the Antelopes of the same part of the world is the Oryx, or Gemsbok, a very beautiful animal, which has been supposed to give rise to the Unicorn of Sacred writings; "for its long, straight horns, always so exactly cover one another, when viewing them from a distance, that they look like one. They have an erect mane, a long tail, and are like a horse, with the head and hoof of an Antelope.
The unicorn is, no doubt, the gemsbok antelope; for when you look at the animal at a distance, its two horns appear as if they were only one, and the Bushmen have so portrayed the animal in their caves. The dragon also is not exactly imaginary; for, the Lacerta volans, or flying lizard of Northern Africa, is very like a small dragon in miniature.
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