THE GIRAFFE. Jl 



horses. However, if they happen to be driven fairly into the 

 plain, they are soon run down, being much shorter- winded 

 than the horse : but, when thus fatigued, they make a sudden 

 turn to the right-about, and defend themselves vigorously 

 with their fore-feet, which they fling out with great force : 

 in fact, the Arabs are unable to take the full-grown giraffes 

 alive, and are obliged to kill them on the spot. They eat the 

 flesh j and out of the skin, which is hard and thick, they 

 make long straps, cut from the top of the head to the end of 

 the fore-feet. The old giraffes are asserted by the Arabs to 

 be able to defend themselves successfully by kicks of their 

 fore-feet, against the most redoubtable animal of the desert. 

 The lion, which learns by experience the resources opposed 

 to him by the giraffe, and the futility of pursuit along the 

 plain, prefers waiting near a stream where that animal drinks, 

 or crouches in view of the grove of Mimosae, whose summits 

 afford him a rich pasturage, and by a single bound falls un- 

 awares upon his prey, which is thus taken by surprise and 

 unable to put into use its natural means of defence. If, how- 

 ever, the lion in springing from his ambuscade miscalculates 

 his leap, and is unable to fix on the hinder parts of the 

 giraffe, the latter makes head against him, and often renders 

 mortal the first blow, from the violent and rapid flinging out 

 of the fore-legs : should he miss his stroke, however, and the 

 lion succeed in fixing upon him, he becomes defenceless and 

 falls a victim. 



The giraffe in a state of captivity, when teased or offended, 

 manifests his natural mode of defence, by striking out with 

 his fore-legs, and sometimes by kicking with the hinder 

 ones like a horse; but he has never been observed to butt, or 

 to make any demonstration with his horns, but on the con- 

 trary always keeps his head raised as high as possible when 

 he is disquieted or afraid. 



The Arabs assert that the only chance of taking the giraffe 

 alive is while he still suckles, and even then it most frequently 

 happens, that in their struggles to free themselves they break * 

 some of their limbs, or dislocate their neck ; at other times 

 they refuse all sustenance, pine away, and die. If, however, 

 they chance to be preserved for a few days, they then become 

 tranquil and soon familiar, readily following those who have 

 the care of them, and even horses or camels. 



This propensity was manifested in a singular manner by 

 the giraffe at present living in Paris. After its disembarca- 

 tion at Marseilles, it passed without any sign of fear through 

 the gates of the Lazaretto, and walked tranquilly as far as an 

 ancient gate of the city, where it suddenly stopped, neither 

 attempting to go forward nor to retrace its steps ; it niani- 



