4 THE GIRAFFE. 



as disproportionately elongated. The trunk, for example, is 

 divided into three equal parts, the fore and hind quarters 

 having respectively the same length as the intermediate divi- 

 sion, — a circumstance which occurs in no other quadruped. 

 To this curtailed trunk are attached legs of extreme length, 

 which, if they were of the ordinary proportions, would have 

 rendered the giraffe the swiftest of animals : but the contrary 

 is, in some measure, the result; for while the fore and hind 

 pair of legs are too closely approximated, they are also of 

 unequal length, and this inequality is so disposed as to retard 

 swiftness of motion. The hare and the greyhound have the 

 hinder legs the longest ; and, as these are the principal pro- 

 pellers in locomotion, hence results the peculiar and prover- 

 bial swiftness of these quadrupeds; but in the giraffe, the 

 proportions of the extremities are reversed, and, conse- 

 quently, when compelled to flight, although from his supe- 

 rior stature he can, for a short distance, outstrip his pur- 

 suers, yet he soon grows weary, and becomes incapable of 

 sustaining a prolonged chase. 



From the time of Heliodorus bishop of Tricca, to the 

 present day, the peculiar gait of the giraffe has been noticed, 

 and is described by most authors as a sort of natural amble. 

 That ancient writer, in his work entitled Ethiopica, written 

 in the fourth century of the Christian sera, observes : u The 

 ambassadors of the Axeomitae (Abyssinians) brought pre- 

 sents to Hydaspes ; and among other things, there was an 

 animal of a strange and wonderful species, about the size of 

 a camel, which had its skin marked with florid spots ; the 

 hinder parts, from the loins, were low, like those of a lion ; 

 but the shoulders, fore- feet, and breast, were elevated above 

 proportion to the other parts ; the neck was small, and 

 lengthened out from its large body like that of a swan ; the 

 head, in form, resembled a camel's, but was in size about 

 twice that of a Libyan ostrich ; and it rolled the eyes, which 

 had a film over them, very frightfully. It differed in gait 

 from every other animal, terrestrial or aquatic, and waddled 

 in a remarkable manner ; each leg was not moved alternately 

 and diagonally, but those on the right side moved together 

 independently of the other, and those on the left side in the 

 same manner, so that each side was alternately elevated. 

 This animal was so tractable as to be led by a small string 

 fastened to the head, and the keeper could conduct it where- 

 ever he pleased, as if by the strongest chain.' ' Similar testi- 

 mony respecting the gait of the giraffe is given by Antonio 

 Constanzio, an Italian author, who describes the giraffe pre- 

 sented to Lorenzo de Medici by the Soldan of Egypt, and 



