THE CAMELOPARD. 



429 



more expert huntsmen. It may be remarked, 

 however, that this creature, which was once 

 in such plenty at the mouth of the Nile, is 



now wholly unknown in Lower Egypt, and is 

 no where to be found in that river, except 

 above the cataracts. 



CHAPTER LXII. 



THE CAMELOPARD. 



WERE we to be told of an animal so tall, 

 that a man on horseback could, with ease, 

 ride under its belly, without stooping, we 

 should hardly give credit to the relation; 

 yet of this extraordinary size is the camelo- 

 pard, an animal that inhabits the deserts of 

 Africa, and the accounts of which are so well 

 ascertained, that we cannot deny our assent 

 to their authority. It is no easy matter to 

 form an adequate idea of this creature's size, 

 and the oddity of its formation. It exhibits 

 somewhat the slender shape of the deer, or 

 the camel, but destitute of their symmetry, or 

 their easy power of motion. The head some- 

 what resembles that of the deer, with two 

 round horns, near a foot long, and which, it is 

 probable, it sheds as deer are found to do ; 

 its neck resembles that of a horse ; its legs 

 arid feet those of the deer, but with this ex- 

 traordinary difference, that the fore legs are 

 near twice as long as the hinder. As these 

 creatures have been found eighteen feet high, 

 and ten from the ground to the top of the 

 shoulder, so allowing three feet for the depth 

 of the body, seven feet remains, which is high 

 enough to admit a man mounted on a middle- 

 sized horse. The hinder part, however, is 

 much lower, so that when the animal appears 

 standing, and at rest, it has somewhat the ap- 

 pearance of a dog sitting: and this formation 

 of its legs gives it an awkward and a labori- 

 ous motion, which, though swift, must yet be 

 tiresome. For this reason, the camelopanl 

 is an animal very rarely found, and only finds 

 refuge in the most internal desert regions of 

 Africa. The dimensions of a young one, as 



Later naturalists say, that this is a mistake, and assert, 

 that as the neck is !:;> .. .r,'l ek-sjaru and exceeds the legs 

 by at least four inches, besides the length of the head, it is 



they were accurately taken by a person who 

 examined its skin, that was brought from the 

 Cape of Good Hope, were found to be as fol- 

 low: the length of the head was one foot eight 

 inches ; the height of the fore leg, from the 



t round to the top of the shoulder, was ten 

 ;et ; from the shoulder to the top of the head 

 was seven ; the height of the hind leg was 

 eigMt feet five inches ; and from the top of the 

 shoulder to the insertion of the tail was just 

 seven feet long. 



No animal, either from its disposition, or its 

 formation, seems less fitted for a state of na- 

 tural hostility ; its horns are blunt, and even 

 knobbed at the ends ; its teeth are made en- 

 tirely for vegetable pasture ; its skin is beau- 

 tifully speckled with brown spots, upon a 

 whitish ground; it is timorous and harmless, 

 and, notwithstanding it? great size, rather 

 flies from, than resists, the slightest enemy ; 

 it partakes very much of the nature of the 

 camel, which it so nearly resembles ; it lives 

 entirely upon vegetables, and when grazing 

 is obliged to spread its fore legs very wide 

 in order to reach its pasture ; a its motion is a 

 kind of pace, two legs on each side moving 

 at the same time, whereas in other animals 

 they move transversely. It often lies down 

 with its belly to the earth, and, like the camel, 

 has a callous substance upon its breast, which, 

 when reposed, defends it from injury. This 

 animal was known to the ancients, but has 

 been very rarely seen in Europe. One of 

 them was sent from the east to the Emperor 

 of Germany, in the year 1559; but they have 

 often been seen tame at Grand Cairo in 



evident that it can graze without difficulty, and is not 

 obliged to kneel down, (as has been supposed) or spread 

 asunder its legs, for that purpose. 

 3S* 



