Chap. 28.] THE CHAMA. 277 



CHAP. 27. THE CA3IELE0PARD : WHE^ IT TTAS EUlST SEEX AT 



EOitE. 



There are two other ^ animals, which have some resemblance 

 to the camel. One of these is called, by the JEthiopians, the 

 nabun.^ It has a neck like that of the horse, feet and legs 

 like those of the ox, a head like that of the camel, and is 

 covered with white spots upon a red ground : from which pe- 

 culiarities it has been called the cameleopard.^' It was first 

 seen at Eome in the Circensian games held by Caesar, the 

 Dictator.^^ Since that time too, it has been occasionally seen. 

 It is more remarkable for the singularity of its appearance 

 than for its fierceness ; for which reason it has obtained the 

 name of the wild sheep. *^ 



CHAP. 28. (19.' THE CHAilA, A^^) THE CEPUS. 



It was at the games of Pompeius Magnus that the chama" 



'6 He speaks here of only one of the animals M-hich resemble the camel ; 

 the giraffe, namely. The other, which he for the present omits, is the 

 ostrich. 



2" The description of the giraffe, here given, is sufficiently correct, but 

 we have a more minute account of it by Dion Cassius, B. xliii. In the 

 time of the Emperor Gordian, ten of these animals were exhibited at 

 Eome at once ; a remarkable fact, when we bear in mind that so few have 

 been imported into Europe for many centuries past. The giraffe is 

 figured in the mosaic at Pneneste, and under it is inscribed its name, 

 nabi. — B. It has been found that it is unable to bear the winters of 

 Europe. 



3^ Its form being Hke that of the camel, while its spots resemble those 

 of the leopard. Horace refers to it, when speaking of an object calculated 

 to excite the vulgar graze; " Diversum confusa genus panthera camelo" — 

 " The race of the panther mingled with the camel," Ep. B. ii. ; Ep. i. 

 1. 195. 



39 According to Dion Cassius, B. xHiL, these games were celebrated 

 A.IT.C. 70S.— B. 



^ This comparison can only be employed to indicate the mild nature of 

 the giraffe. — B. 



^^ In the older editions, the names here given to this animal were 

 *'chaus" and "ruphius;" the alteration was made by Hardouin from a 

 MS. in the Eoyal Library of Paris, which he deemed of high authority, 

 and has been adopted by all the modem editors. There is considerable 

 doubt respecting the animal here desisrnated by the name of '' chama;" it 

 appears to have been an inhabitant of Gaul, and in c. 34, is stvled ''lupxis 

 cervarius ;'' but the account does not enable us to identify it with any 



