CAMELOPARD. 89 



35. GIRAFFE TRIBE. 



Of the present tribe only one species has hitherto 

 been discovered. 



Camelopard or Giraffe. When it stands erect, this 

 most remarkable of all animals frequently measures 

 from five to six yards in height, from the top of its head 

 to the ground. The hinder parts, however, are not by 

 any means so high. It is found only in the plains of 

 Ethiopia, and some of the interior and southern parts of 

 Africa. In its general manners and disposition it is one 

 of the mildest and most innocent of all quadrupeds. 

 When these animals graze, it is necessary for them to 

 separate the fore legs to a considerable distance, other- 

 wise their head would not be able to reach the grouniL 

 They, however, most usually feed on the leaves of trees 

 and shrubs. It is but seldom they have been seen, 

 particularly of late years; and, when pursued, they 

 move so rapidly, that even the fleetest horse would 

 scarcely be able to overtake them. In their general 

 appearance they remind an observer of the camel, the 

 horse, and the deer ; partaking, in some respects, of the 

 nature of each of these animals. By the ancients they 

 had the name of Camelopard, from a supposed resem- 

 blance both to the camel and leopard. We are told that 

 Pompey exhibited no fewer than ten of them at once, 

 in the amphitheatre at Rome. There is, at this time, the 

 stuffed skin of a Camelopard in Mr. Bullock's Musuem, 

 in Piccadilly, London. 



In its general form and appearance, this is an elegant, 

 though very singular quadruped. Its head is somewhat 

 like that of a horse, but furnished with two erect horns, 

 each about six inches in length, blunt at the extremity, 



