114 THE GIRAFFE. 



neath, the sides and corners being kept down with 

 large stones. 



" I had to dry the skin of my giraffe, to consume 

 the grease, and to destroy all the causes of fermenta- 

 tion, which might rot or damage it. "With this design 

 I had great fires made, in order to use the cinders. I 

 spread these cinders on the skin, taking care that it 

 was covered entirely, and quite equally. 



"It remained in this state during the whole night; 

 and, lest some hyaena should come to it, under the 

 cover of the darkness, to devour the fragments, I 

 pitched my tent quite close to my treasure. 



" The dissection of the head and the hoofs took me 

 the whole afternoon of the following day, because I 

 could not obtain, and, indeed, I did not wish any aid 

 but that of Klaas. The hoofs cost me little trouble ; 

 but it was not so with the head. We began upon this 

 by raising the skin from the jaw-bones and cheeks-, and 

 by taking away the flesh from underneath, replacing it 

 by tow, to preserve the form. The eyes were treated 

 in the same manner t after having taken out the globe 

 of the eye, and dried its orbit with hot cinders, I filled 

 the cavity with tow, in order to sustain the eyelids. 



" The most difficult operation was the extraction of 

 the brain, which in the giraffe is large ; and I was 

 the more embarrassed because I desired to extract it 

 without incision or fracture. At last I thought of 



