I 



CHASE OF THE GIRAFFE. 405 



the object of his attack with a sidelong sweep of the neck. 

 One blow thus directed at full swing against the head of an 

 unlucky attendant would be fatal.' 



The projecting upper lip of the giraffe is remarkably flexible, 

 and its elongated prehensile tongue, performing in miniature 

 the part of the elephant's proboscis, is of material assistance in 

 browsing upon the foliage and young shoots of the prickly 

 acacia, which constitute the animal's chief food. 



With feet terminating in a divided hoof, and a ruminant like 

 our ox, the giraffe has four stomachs, and an enormous intestinal 

 length of 288 feet, a formation which bears testimony to the 

 vast and prolonged powers of digestion necessary to extract 

 nutrition from its hard and meagre diet. 



Eanging throughout the wide plains of Central Africa from 

 Caffraria to Nubia, the giraffe, though a gregarious animal, gene- 

 rally roams about only in small herds, averaging sixteen in 

 number, from the young animal of nine or ten feet in height, 

 to the dark chestnut-coloured old male, towering to a height of 

 upwards of eighteen feet. Notwithstanding the rapidity with 

 which it strides along, the fore and hind leg on the same side 

 moving together, instead of diagonally as in most other 

 quadrupeds, yet a full gallop quite dissipates its strength ; and 

 the hunters, being aware of this, always try to press the 

 giraffes at once to it, knowing that they have but a short 

 space to run before the animals are in their power. In doing 

 this the old sportsmen are earful not to go too close to the 

 giraffe's tail ; ' for this animal,' says Dr. Livingstone, ' can 

 swing his hind foot round in a way which would leave little to 

 choose between a kick with it and a clap from the arm of a 

 windmill.' 



Captain Harris, in his 'Wild Sports of Africa,' gives us 

 an animated picture of a giraffe hunt, breathing the full life 

 and excitement of the chase. 



' Many days had now elapsed since we had even seen the 

 camelopard, and then only in small numbers, and under the 

 most unfavourable circumstances. The blood coursed through 

 my veins like quicksilver therefore as, on the morning of the 

 19th, from the back of Breslar, my most trusty steed, with a 

 firm-wooded plain before me, I counted thirty-two of these 

 animals industriously stretching their peacock-necks to crop 



