HUNTING THE GIRAFFE. 439 



of sterile and sandy deserts, its long slender neck and sloping body ; 

 enable it to reach with ease its favorite food ; leaf by leaf is daintily 

 plucked from the lofty branch by the pliant tongue and a mouth- 

 ful of tender and juicy food is speedily accumulated. The oblique 

 fcnd narrow apertures of the nostrils, defended even to their margins 

 by a chevaux de /rise of strong hairs, and surrounded by muscular 

 fibres by which they can be hermetically sealed, effectually prevent 

 the entrance of the fine particles of sand which the suffocating storms 

 o( the desert raise in fiery clouds, destructive to the lord of the cre- 

 ation. Erect on those stilt-like legs, the giraffe surveys the wide ex- 

 panse, and feeds at ease, for those mild, large eyes are so placed that 

 it can see not only on all sides, but even behind, rendering it next 

 to impossible for an enemy to approach undiscovered. As we reflect 

 on these and numberless other points for admiration presented f y the 

 giraffe, we involuntarily exclaim with the Psalmist, " Oh, Lord ! how 

 oaanifo.M are thy works ; in wisdom has thou made them all I" 



" Nature to these, without profusion kind, 

 The proper organs, proper powers assigned; 

 Each seeming what compensated of course, 

 Here with degrees of swiftness, there of fore 4 ; 

 All in exact proportion to the state, 

 Nothing to add. and nothing to bt " 



