CHASE OF THE GIRAFFE. 407 



grooved bore, like a falling minaret bowing his graceful head 

 from the skies, his proud form was prostrate in the dust. Never 

 shall I forget the tingling excitement of that moment. At last 

 then, the summit of my hunting ambition was actually attained, 

 and the towering giraffe laid low. Tossing my turbanless cap 

 into the air, alone in the wild wood, I hurraed with bursting- 

 exultation, and, unsaddling my steed, sank exhausted beside the 

 noble prize I had won.' 



In a similar strain of triumph Grordon Gumming describes his 

 first giraffe hunt : ' Grdlloping 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 troop often colossal giraffes, the majority of which 

 were from seventeen to eighteen feet high. On beholding me 

 they at once made off, twisting their long tails over their backs, 

 making a loud switching noise with them, and cantering along 

 at an easy pace, which, however, obliged my 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. At every stride I 

 gained upon 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 comrades 

 and hotly pursued, she increased her pace and cantered along 

 with tremendous strides, clearing an amazing extent of 

 ground at every bound, while her neck and breast coming in 

 contact with the dead old branches of the trees were continually 

 trewing them in my path. In a few minutes I was riding 

 within five yards of her stern, and firing at the gallop I sent a 

 bullet into her back. Increasing my pace, I next rode along- 

 ide, and placing the muzzle of my rifle within a few feet of 

 her, I fired my second shot behind the shoulder ; the ball, how- 

 ever, seemed to have little effect. Once more I brought her to 

 stand, and dismounted from my horse. There we stood 

 together alone in the wild wood. I gazed in wonder at her 

 ^ extreme beauty, while her soft dark eye, with its silky fringe, 

 |t^looked down imploringly at me, and I really felt a pang of 



