304 GIRAFFE. 



measuring, when full grown, near seventeen feet 

 from the top of the head to the fore feet. The 

 female, however, is lower than the male, and the 

 measure above-mentioned must be understood to 

 relate to the animal when arrived at the utmost 

 limits of its tallest growth ; the generality of those 

 described by travellers not exceeding fifteen or 

 sixteen feet. Notwithstanding the unusual pro- 

 portions of this animal, its general form is in the 

 highest degree elegant and picturesque ; the head 

 being small, the aspect mild, the neck extremely 

 long and tapering; the fore-parts much higher 

 than the hinder, and the disposition of the colours 

 singular and pleasing. At first view, the fore- 

 legs seem nearly twice the length of the hind ; 

 but this difference, on accurate examination, ap- 

 pears to result chiefly from the extraordinary 

 height of the shoulders, compared with that of 

 the thighs : accordingly, among the old writers 

 who have described this animal, Petrus Gyllius * 

 perhaps approaches nearest to the truth, when he 

 affirms, that all the legs, or tibiae, of the Camelo- 

 pardi are of nearly equal length, but that the fore- 

 thighs (femora anteriora) are so long in compari- 

 son with the hind, that the back appears inclined 

 like the roof a house. 



The horns of the Camelopardi differ in texture 

 from those of all other horned quadrupeds ; form- 

 ing, as it were, a part of the skull, and consisting 

 of a porous bony substance covered externally with 



* Hist. Animal, chap. 9. 



