CHASE OF THE GIKAPPE 425 



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. 



Hanging throughout the wide plains of Central Africa, from 

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

 rally roams about only in small herds. It is, indeed, by no 

 means common even at its head-quarters, and Captain Harris, 

 who traversed the desert as far as the Tropic of Capricorn, sel- 

 dom found giraffes without having followed their trail, and never 

 saw more than live-and-thirty in a day. Notwithstanding the 

 rapidity with which the cameleopard 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 power ; 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 careful 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." 



The author of the " Wild Sports of Africa," draws a most 

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

 excitement of the chase, and capable of raising the envy of all 

 his brother Nimrods : — 



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

 cameleopard, 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 industriousl}^ stretching their peacock-necks to crop 

 the tiny leaves which fluttered above their heads in a mimosa 

 grove that beautified the scenery. They were within a hundred 

 yards of me ; but having previously determined to try the 

 boarding system, I reserved my fire. 



" Although I had taken the field expressly to look for giraffes, 

 and had put four of the Hottentots on horseback, all excepting 



