368 THE CAMELOPARD. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



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 cre- 

 dit to the relation ; yet of this extraordinary size 

 is the camelopard, an animal that inhabits the de- 

 serts 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 des- 

 titute of their symmetry, or their easy power of 

 motion. The head somewhat 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 and feet those of the deer ; but with this 

 extraordinary difference, that the fore-legs are 

 nearly 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, 



[* It is now known that the fore-legs of the camelopard are not above 

 seven inches longer than its hind-legs ; but the shoulders are of a vast length, 

 which gives the disproportionate height between the fore and hind parts. It 

 has eight fore-teeth in the under jaw, but none in the upper ; and there are 

 six grinders on each side in both jaws. The feet are cloven, and they have 

 no heel] 



