218 



GIOVINAZZO 



GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS 



proof of his technical skill. In spite of some dis- 

 crepancies of detail there appears to be a basis of 

 truth in the story, which has originated the Italian 

 phrase, ' As round as Giotto's O '. See H. Quilter's 

 Giotto (Lond. 1880). 



GlOVinazzo, an Italian town on the shore of 

 the Adriatic, 14 miles WNW. of Bari by rail. It 

 is an episcopal seat. Pop. 9797. 



Gippslaild, one of the four important districts 

 into wnich Victoria, Australia, is divided, is so 

 named after an early governor. It forms the south- 

 east portion of Victoria, and has an area of 13,898 

 sq. m. Its length from west to east is 250 miles, 

 and mean breadth about 80. It was originally 

 called Caledonia Australis by Mr Macmillan, its 

 first explorer (1839). 



Gipsies. See GYPSIES. 



Giraffe, or CAMELOPARD ( Camelopardalis Gir- 

 affa ; giraffa, the Spanish name, being derived 

 from the Arabic zardf, and that, apparently, 

 from the Egyptian sorapke, ' long neck ' ), the 

 tallest of quadrupeds, ranked by some natural- 

 ists among deer (Cervidae), but more properly 

 regarded as constituting a distinct family of 

 ruminants, which contains, however, only one 

 species. It is a native of Africa, south of the 

 Sahara. It occurs generally in small herds of from 

 five to forty. It feeds on the leaves and small 

 branches of trees. Its general aspect is remarkable 

 from the height of the foreparts and great elonga- 

 tion of the neck, the head being sometimes 18 feet 

 from the ground. The number of vertebrae in the 

 neck, however (seven), is not greater than in other 

 quadrupeds, and it has no extraordinary flexibility, 

 although its form and movements are very graceful. 

 The body is short, and the back slopes from the 

 shoulder to the tail ; yet the greater height of the 

 foreparts is not entirely owing to the greater length 

 of the fore-legs, but to the neural processes of the 

 vertebrae, which form a basis for the support of the 

 neck and head. The articulation of the skull to 



Giraffe (Camelopardalis Giraffa). 



the neck is such that the head can be easily thrown 

 back until it is in the same line with the neck, thus 

 giving the animal additional power of reaching its 

 appropriate food. The skull has empty cavities, 

 which give lightness to the head, along with 

 sufficient extent of surface for the insertion of the 

 ligament which supports it. The legs are long 

 and slender ; the feet have cloven hoofs, but are 

 destitute of the small lateral toes or spurious hoofs 

 which occur in other ruminants. The head is long; 



the upper lip entire, projecting far beyond the 

 nostrils, and endowed with considerable muscular 

 power. The tongue is remarkably capable of elon- 

 gation, and is an organ of touch and of prehension, 

 like the trunk of an elephant ; it can be thrust far 

 out of the mouth, and employed to grasp and take 

 up even very small objects ; it is said that its tip 

 can be so tapered as to enter the ring of a very 

 small key. The usefulness of such an organ for 

 drawing in leaves and branchlets to the mouth is 

 obvious. The giraffe adroitly picks off the leaves 

 of acacias and other thorny plants, without taking 

 the thorns into its mouth. The dentition of the 

 giraffe agrees with that of antelopes, sheep, goats, 

 and oxen ; the upper jaw of the male is destitute 

 of the canine teeth which are present in the male 

 of most kinds of deer. 



The head is furnished with two remarkable 

 protuberances between the ears, generally de- 

 scribed as horns, but very different from the 

 horns of other animals, and each consisting of 

 a bone united to the skull by an obvious suture, 

 permanent, covered with skin and hair, and 

 terminated by long hard bristles. These long 

 outgrowths may correspond to the long core 

 of the antelope's horn or to the pedicel of 

 the antler in the deer. There is also a projec- 

 tion on the forehead. The ears are moderately 

 long ; the tail is long, and terminates in a 

 tuft of long hair. There is a callosity on the 

 breast. The neck has a very short mane. The 

 hair is short and smooth ; the colour is a reddish- 

 white, marked by numerous dark rusty spots. Its 

 nostrils have a muscle by which they can be 

 closed ; a provision, as Owen supposes, for exclud- 

 ing particles of sand. It is an inoffensive animal, 

 and generally seeks safety, if possible, in flight, 

 although it is capable of making a stout resist- 

 ance, and is said to beat oft' the lion. It fights 

 by kicking with its hind-legs, discharging a storm 

 of kicks with extraordinary rapidity. It is not 

 easily overtaken even by a fleet horse, and has 

 greatly the advantage of a horse on uneven and 

 broken ground. Its pace is described as an amble, 

 the legs of the same side moving at the same time. 

 The giraffe was known to the ancients, and was 

 exhibited in Roman spectacles. -Representations 

 of it appear among Egyptian antiquities. It has 

 been supposed to be the zemer of the Jews, trans- 

 lated chamois in the English Bible (Deut. xiv. 5). 

 In the year 1836 giraffes were first added to the 

 collection in the gardens of the Zoological Society 

 of London, and since that year numerous specimens 

 have been acquired which have bred in the gardens. 

 They are fed chiefly on hay placed in high racks, 

 greatly enjoy carrots and onions, and a lump of 

 sugar is a favourite delicacy. The flesh of the 

 giraffe is said to be pleasant, and its marrow is 

 a favourite African delicacy. 



Giraldus ambrensis, the usual literary 

 name of the historian and ecclesiastic, Girald de 

 Barri, who flourished in the 12th and 13th centuries, 

 and was born about 1147 in Pembrokeshire, son of 

 a Norman noble who had married into a princely 

 Welsh family. He was brought up by his uncle, 

 the Bishop of St Davids, was sent to the university 

 of Paris in his twentieth year, and after his return 

 entered into holy orders in 1172, and was appointed 

 archdeacon of St Davids. He was from the first 

 a zealous churchman, strenuous in the enforcement 

 of discipline, and especially of clerical celibacy, and 

 was the chief agent in establishing the payment of 

 tithes within the principality. On the death of 

 his uncle, the chapter of St Davids elected him 

 bishop, but, as the election was made without the 

 royal license, Girald renounced it. King Henry 

 II. directed a new election ; and, on the chapter's 

 persisting in their choice of Girald, the king refused 



