Chap. XXVII.] SOUTHERN AFRICA. 241 



and delicate ; the eyes, which are soft and gentle, 

 eclipsing those of the oft-sung gazelle of the East, 

 and being so constructed that, without turning the 

 head, the animal can see both before and behind it 

 at the same time. On the forehead there is a re- 

 markable prominence ; and the tongue has the 

 power of mobility increased to an extraordinary 

 degree, accompanied with the faculty of extension, 

 which enables it, in miniature, to perform the office 

 of the elephant's proboscis. The lofty maned neck, 

 possessing only seven joints, appears to move on a 

 pivot, instead of being flexible like that of the swan 

 or peacock, to which, from its length, it has been 

 likened. 



The giraffe utters no cry whatever. Both sexes 

 have horns, covered with hair, and are similarly 

 marked with an angular and somewhat symme- 

 trical pattern. The male increases in depth of 

 colour according to the age, and in some speci- 

 mens is nearly black ; but the female is smaller in 

 stature, and of a lighter colour, approaching to 

 yellow. Although very extensive, the range of its 

 habitat is exclusively confined to those regions in 

 which the species of mimosa termed mokaala, or 

 katneel-doorn, is abundant, the leaves, shoots, and 

 blossoms of that tree being its ordinary food. 



On the 22nd, being encamped on the banks of a 



ridden down hundreds. On my return, however, after a little 

 cross-examination, the number destroyed dwindled gradually 

 down to one; which solitary individual appeared, upon further 

 investigation, to have been taken in a pit-fall ! 



M 



