194 THE WILDERNESS AND JUNGLE 



and his horse would have been done for, as 

 the force of such strokes from an animal that 

 weighs nearly a ton must be immense. 



Unless there is urgent need for meat, these 

 beautiful and inoffensive animals should never 

 be shot. There is no trophy even to justify 

 such "sport," for the so-called horns are little 

 better than knobs under the skin, and shoot- 

 ing a giraffe is so devoid of risk as to have 

 little savour for the true sportsman. During 

 Mr. Roosevelt's African trip, a cow giraffe 

 even showed so little fear of the party that 

 several of them were able to get up to within 

 fifteen feet and pelt her with sticks and stones, 

 at which she walked slowly away. That, 

 surely, is not the sort of animal to shoot for 

 sport ! True, this particular cow was spared, 

 but nine other giraffes were shot by members 

 of the party. Why? 



If giraffes must be killed, as they must, no 

 doubt, at times for meat, why not hunt them 

 in the splendid manner of the Arab sword- 

 hunters, killing them with cold steel after they 

 have had a good run for their lives ? Readers 

 of Sir Samuel Baker's inspiring book on the 

 Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia will recall the 

 prowess of the Agagir^ or sword-hunters, of 

 the Hamran tribe of Arabs. Alas, the mighty 

 are fallen ! This once great tribe has, in the 

 course of two generations, been all but exter- 



