With Fhishli-ht and Ritl 



& 



c -* 



have thriven at one; time in more northern regions. The 

 animahcult ni th(; Egyptians may well have iniluenced 

 the Masai tor a time. 



lliere is nothing attractive about giraffes, so far as 

 we know them from jiictures, or from having seen them 

 in captivity. But it is quite otherwise with them as met 

 with in the wilderness. Zebras, leopards, and giraffes 

 are so strikingly coloured that one would expect to find 

 them conspicuous figures in their own haunts. f^)Ut, as I 

 have already remarked, these three kinds of animalf^ 

 have really a special protection in their colouring. It 

 harmonises so perfectly with their siuToundings that they 

 are blended in the background, so to speak, and can 

 easily be overlooked. It must be explained that one 

 does not often see the animals close at hand. In certain 

 lights, indeed, according to the position of the sun, zebras, 

 leopards, and giraftes are so merged in the harmony of 

 their surroundings that even when they are cjuite near 

 the eye ot man can easily l)e deceived. It is not onl}- 

 in the very dry season, when the plant- world stretches 

 out before us in every hue from dirt\' brown to [jright 

 gold, that the girafte harmonises with its surroundings in 

 this way ; you sometimes cannot distinguish its outline 

 when backed by the (^rrcen boughs of the trees in the 

 shade. 



The colouring ot giraffes varies very much, even in 

 the saiiK^ herd. I have seen herds of tort\-ti\e or more 

 heads, and trom close quarters I ha\e ascertained thai 

 some were striped quite darkly and some ver)- lighilx. 

 /\11 bulls are- coloured more; or less darkly. 



:;o8 



