138 NATUKE AND SPORT IN SOUTH AFRICA 



The dentition of the animal is similar to that of ante- 

 lopes, sheep, goats, and oxen; and herein, perhaps, 

 the great quadruped most closely approaches these 

 families. It is to be noted, however, that the canine 

 teeth found in the male dentition of most of the deer 

 kind are wanting. The eye of the giraffe is dark, 

 melting, shaded by long lashes, and altogether beau- 

 tiful. Commanding, from its height, and the placing 

 and structure of the eye, a wide field of vision, the 

 timid and defenceless creature is an extremely diffi- 

 cult animal to surprise, except in remote districts 

 where the hunter is little known ; and backed, as is 

 its wonderfully acute vision, by a highly developed 

 sense of scent and great powers of fleetness and 

 endurance, the giraffe takes a good deal of finding 

 and catching. Only the well-mounted hunter stands 

 much chance of running down this mighty game in 

 fair chase ; and unless the hunting-horse be put to 

 its hardest gallop in the first mile or two, and shots 

 are speedily obtained at close quarters, the timid 

 quarry will probably get clean away. 



The sight of a troop of giraffes browsing peacefully 

 in their native acacia forests, reaching with up- 

 stretched neck and extended tongue at some green 

 succulent leafage far up in the spreading hameel-doorn 

 tree, is one of the most beautiful things in nature. 

 No man that has once seen such a spectacle is ever 

 likely to forget it. A few years back, while riding with 



