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creditable to his patriotic sentiment than to his common 

 sense. But then Roualeyn was full of sentiment. Take 

 for example his narrative of the adventure on "the 

 memorable day the first on which I saw and slew the 

 lofty graceful-looking giraffe or cameleopard, with which 

 during many years of my life, I had longed to form an 

 acquaintance " : 



" The giraffes stood looking at the waggons till I was 

 within sixty yards of them, when galloping round a 

 thick bushy tree under cover of which I had ridden, I 

 suddenly beheld a sight, the most astounding that a 

 sportsman's eye can encounter. Before me stood a 

 group of ten colossal giraffes, the majority of which 

 were from seventeen to eighteen feet high. On be- 

 holding me they at once made off, twisting their long 

 tails over their backs, making a loud switching noise 

 with them, and cantered along at an easy pace which 

 however, obliged Colesberg [his horse] to put his best 

 foot foremost to keep up with them. 



The sensations which I felt on this occasion were 

 different from anything that I had before experienced 

 during a long sporting career. My senses were so 

 absorbed by the wondrous and beautiful sight before 

 me that I rode along like one entranced, and felt 

 inclined to disbelieve that I was hunting living things 

 of this world. The ground was firm, and favourable 

 for riding. At every stride I gained on the giraffes, 

 and after a short burst at a swinging gallop, I was in 

 the middle of them, and turned the finest cow out of 

 the herd. On finding herself driven from her com- 

 panions and hotly pursued, she increased her pace, and 



