THE CONDOR. 119 



seven or eight species of rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, 

 the giraffe, the camel, the gaur, the gayall, and other great 

 wild oxen of India ; the nrus, the bison, the Cape buffalo, 

 the eland. Most of these dwell in the poor and arid 

 reoions of South Africa ; where the nakedness of the 

 country permits them to be seen to advantage. Dr An- 

 drew Smith, in one day's march with the bullock-waggons 

 saw, without wandering to any great distance on either 

 side, between one hundred and one hundred and fifty rhino- 

 ceroses, which belonged to three species ; the same day he 

 saw several herds of giraffes, amounting together to nearly 

 a hundred ; and, though no elephants were observed, yet 

 they are found in this district. At the distance of little 

 more than an hour's march from their place of encamp- 

 ment on the previous night, his party actually killed at 

 one spot eight hippopotamuses, and saw many more. 

 In this same river there were likewise crocodiles. 



Among birds, the condor of the Andes has been the 

 subject of greatly exaggerated reports of its dimen- 

 sions. When it w^as first discovered by the Sj^anish con- 

 querors of America, it was compared to the Rokh of 

 Arabian fable, and by some even considered to be the 

 identical bird, " which is able to trusse an elephant." 

 Garcilasso states that some of those killed by the 

 Spaniards measured fifteen or sixteen feet (the vagueness 

 of the "or" in what professes to be actual measurement 

 is suspicious) from tip to tip of the extended wrings. He 

 adds that two will attack a bull and devour it, and tiiat 

 single individuals will slay boys of twelve years old. 



