86. _The CHAMOIS_ (Antilope rupicapra, Fig. 11) _is a kind of antelope about the size of a goat, with short, erect, round, and smooth horns, which are hooked backward at the tips._
_Its colour is dusky yellowish brown on the upper parts of the body, with the cheeks, chin, throat, and belly, yellowish white. The horns, which are common to both the sexes, are generally about eight inches in length, but shorter in the female than the male._
_These animals inhabit many of the mountainous parts of Europe, particularly the Alps and Pyrenees._
There are few pursuits more arduous and difficult than the hunting of the chamois. Being wholly confined to rocky and mountainous situations, dogs are nearly useless in it; and such are the sagacity and acuteness of perception of these animals, that they take alarm at the most distant approach of danger, and the stratagems which are practised to come within gun-shot of them are almost innumerable. They associate in flocks consisting of from four or five to nearly a hundred in number; and, when alarmed, they are able to spring, at a single leap, up rocks the perpendicular height of which is more than twenty feet, and in this case, by a few bounds, they throw themselves entirely out of the reach of their pursuers. If hard pressed, they will sometimes turn upon the hunter and attack him with fury; and instances have been related of men, thus attacked, having been thrown down precipices and destroyed by them.
The chief objects of this pursuit are the _flesh_ and the _skin_. The former is, in general, a nutritious and wholesome food, and the latter is useful in numerous ways. When dressed, it forms a soft, warm, and pliable leather, which has the name of _shammoy_, and is manufactured into breeches, vests, and gloves, that are very durable and are much used by the labouring classes of people on the Continent. Of late years, however, the art of tanning has been brought to so much perfection, that excellent shammoy leather is made from the skins of the goat, the sheep, and the deer. The _horns_ of the chamois are often cut into heads for canes, and the farriers of the Continent sometimes sharpen and use them for the bleeding of cattle. The _blood_ of these animals is used medicinally, and, in Switzerland, is a celebrated nostrum for the cure of pleurisy and some other complaints.