498 
way while I was to attack them 
in the rear. Ihad almost got 
within shot of them, when they 
perceived me, and began to fly in 
the direction we expected. But 
their flight was so beyond all 
idea extraordinary, that between 
laughter, astonishment, and de- 
light, I almost forgot my designs 
upon the harmless. creatures’ 
lives. From the extravagant dis- 
proportion between the height of 
the fore to that of the hinder 
parts, and of the height to the 
length of the animal, great ob- 
stacles are presented to its mov- 
ing with any degree of swiftness. 
When Le Vaillant asserts that he 
has seen the giraffe trot, he spares 
me any farther trouble in proving 
that this animal never presented 
itself alive before him. How in 
the world should an animal, so 
disproportioned in height, before 
and behind, trot? The giraffe 
can only gallop, as I can affirm 
from my own experience, hav- 
ing seen between forty and 
fifty at different times, both in 
their slow and hasty movement, 
for they only step when they are 
feeding quietly. But this gallop 
is so heavy and unwieldy, and 
seems performed with so much 
labour, that in a distance of more 
than a hundred paces, comparing 
the ground cleared, with the size 
of the animal, and of the sur- 
rounding objects, it might almost 
be said that a man goes faster on 
foot. The heaviness of the move- 
ment is only compensated by the 
length of the steps, each one of 
which clears on a moderate com: 
putation, from twelve to sixteen 
feet. Onaccount of the size:and 
weight of the foreparts the giraffe 
cannot move forwards through 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1815. 
the power of the muscles alone ;. 
he must bend back his long neck, 
by which the centre of gravity 
is thrown somewhat more behind, 
so as to assist his march; then 
alone it is possible for him to raise 
his fore-legs from the ground. 
The neck is, however, thrown 
back without being itself bent, it 
remains stiff and erect, and moves 
in this erect form slowly back- 
wards and forwards with the mo- 
tion of the legs, almost like the 
motion of a ship dancing upon 
the waves, or, according to the 
phrase used by the sailors, a reel- 
ing-ship. It is not difficult to over- 
take the giraffe with a tolerably 
good horse, especially if the 
ground be advantageous, and 
somewhat on the rise; for it 
will be easily comprehended that 
it must be extremely difficult for 
a creature of such a structure to 
move upon the ascent. 
PITCH WELLS. 
(From Dr. Holland's Travels in 
the Ionian Isles, &c.) 
The Pitch wells of Zante area 
natural phenomenon, which may 
be regarded as among the anti-: — 
quities of the isle ; since they were 
known and described as early as 
the time of Herodotus, and are 
mentioned since by Pausanias, Plix _ 
ny,and other authors. Theyaresi- — 
tuated about tern miles from the 
city, and near the shore ‘of the 
bay, on the southern side of the 
island. We visited this spot, which 
is called Chieri, a day or two af- 
ter our arrival in Zante. A small 
tract of marshy land stretching 
down to the sea, and ‘surrounded 
—_" - ls 
hi 
pi 
LY 
