GIRAFFES, AND HOW TO CAPTURE THEM 145 



The young giraffes might be captured ; but sufficient 

 care and attention might not be ensured so as to 

 bring them sound and living to Palachwe, Khama's 

 chief town in Bamangwato, North Bechuanaland. 



For some time the Zoological Society offered, as 

 I have said, £1000 for a pair (malft and female) of 

 giraffes delivered in England. This seems a large 

 sum, but in reality it is not a very magnificent 

 reward. Think of the time, trouble, and hardship 

 involved in seeking and securing these timid giants 

 in their waterless and inaccessible haunts. For 

 three-fourths of the year giraffes can exist without 

 water ; and, as I can personally testify, they are, in 

 their best country, now-a-days usually only to be 

 encountered in absolutely waterless desert, the nearest 

 portion of it from twenty to forty miles from any 

 river or fountain. The trouble and risk is thus 

 vastly increased ; and even when captured, conceive 

 the expense, care, and forethought necessary to con- 

 duct such captives safely across the desert, feed them, 

 and land them safely at Cape Town, after a journey 

 of 1300 or 1400 miles. At Palachwe, Khama's 

 capital, 1150 miles from Cape Town, the railway 

 is now available certainly ; but giraffes are not easy 

 cattle to handle on a railway journey, although the 

 transport might with care be managed. 



I have reckoned the prime cost of getting a young 

 giraffe from Khama's country to England, including 



