DEER. 687 
_ Besides the usual mode of hunting and stalking, the natives employ the pitfall for the 
purpose of destroying this large and valuable animal. For this purpose a very curiously 
constructed pit is dug, being about ten feet in depth, proportionably wide, and having a 
wall or bank of earth extending from one side to the other, and about six or seven feet 
in height. When the Giraffe is caught in one of these pits, its fore-limbs fall on one side 
of the wall, and its hind- legs on the other, the edge of the wall passing under its abdomen. 
The poor creature is thus balanced, as it were, upon its belly across the wall, and in spite 
of all its plunging, is unable to obtain a foothold sufficiently firm to enable it to leap out 
of the treacherous cavity into which it has fallen. The pitfalls which are intended for 
the capture of the ee es and the rhinoceros are furnished with a sharp stake at 
the bottom, which impales the luckless animal as it falls; but it is found by experience 
that, in the capture of the Giraffe, the transverse wall ‘is even more deadly than the 
sharpened pike. 
In spite of the great size of the Giraffe, and its very peculiar formation, it is not 
nearly so conspicuous an animal as might be imagined. The long neck and dark skin of 
the creature are so formed that they bear a close resemblance to the dried and blasted 
stems of the forest trees. So close is the resemblance, that even the keen-eyed natives 
have been known to mistake trees for Giraffes, and ace versa. 
The Giraffe is generally found in little herds, sometimes only five or six in number, 
and sometimes containing thirty or forty members, the average being about sixteen. 
These animals are found of all sizes and both sexes, each herd being under the guidance 
of one old experienced male, whose dark chestnut hide and lofty head render him con- 
spicuous above his fellows. These herds are always found either in or very close to forests, 
where they can obtain their daily food, and where they can be concealed from their 
enemies among the tree-trunks, to which they bear so close a resemblance. 
‘As the hide of the Giraffe is enormously thick, the animal is not easily to be killed 
by the imperfect weapons with which the native tribes are armed, and does not readily 
yield its life even to the bullets of the white man. It is but seldom that a single shot has 
laid low one of these animals, and in these rare cases the balls were of heavy calibre and 
made of hardened metal. The flesh of the Giraffe is considered to be good, when rightly 
prepared, and its marrow is thought to be so great a delicacy that the natives eagerly 
suck it from the bones as they are taken from the animal. When cooked, it is worthy of 
a place on a royal table. The flesh is well fitted for being made into jerked meat. The 
thick, strong hide, is employed in the manufacture of shoe-soles, shields, and similar 
articles. 
DEER. 
THE characteristics by which the different groups of DEER are distinguished, as well as 
those which mark out the genus and species, are not at all self-evident, “but are variously 
given by various zoologists. Most writers base their classification solely upon the horns, 
but as these ornaments are not to be found in every specimen, nor at every season, such a 
classification would evidently be impracticable in many cases. Moreover, the same 
species, or even the same individual, bears horns of quite a different aspect at different 
times of its life, while several species which are clearly distinct are furnished with closely 
similar horns. Bearing these difficulties in mind, Mr. Gray has judiciously employed 
several characteristics in his systematic arrangement of the Deer, and for that purpose 
has made use of the form and extent of the muzzle, the position and presence of glands 
on the hind legs, the general form of the horns, and the kind of hair which forms ie fur, 
From the antelopes the Deer are readily distinguished by the character of the 
horns, which only belong to the male animals, are composed of solid bony substances, and 
are shed and renewed annually during the life of the animal. The process by which the 
horns are developed, die, and are shed, is a very curious one, and deserves a short notice 
