THE GIRAFFE. 29 



THE GIRAFFE, OR CAMEL-LEOPARD, 



Notwithstanding its vast size, is timid and harmless, 

 and little adapted for a state of hostility. It flies rather 

 than resists the most insignificant enemy ; lives entirely 

 on vegetables, and when grazing is obliged to spread its 

 legs very wide, in order that it may reach the ground. 

 Its motion is a kind of gallop, which, though swift, is 

 ungraceful. The Greeks gave it the name of camelo- 

 pardalis, from an idea that it was generated between a 

 camel and a leopard. History informs us, that Pompey 

 exhibited no fewer than ten of them on one of the amphi- 

 theatres in Rome, at once. It is probable that such a num- 

 ber will never be seen in Europe again at the same time : 

 even one, indeed, is a rarity. 



The existence of this animal was for a long time doubted 

 in Europe ; the account of its great height and extraordinary 

 form were so incredible in themselves, and often so contra- 

 dictory, that few persons placed any confidence in them. 

 The most credulous could scarcely believe that any animal 

 was so tall that a man on horseback could ride under it 

 without stooping ; yet strange as it may have appeared, 

 the fact is strictly true, or very nearly so. The camelopard 

 inhabits the deserts of Africa, especially towards the south, 

 above the Cape of Goqd Hope ; and though it be not very 

 rare in them, still they are so extensive that we cannot come 

 up with it often. Its form is light, slender and airy, like 

 that of the deer, but without the proportions, and also 

 without the easy motions of the latter. Its head is like that 

 of trfe deer, with two horns about a foot long, which are 

 a part of the skull or rather an extension of the bone of it. 

 Its neck is like that of the horse, its legs and feet like those 

 of a deer, but the fore-legs are twice as long as the hinder. 



As it stands erect it is eighteen feethigh from the ground* 

 to the top of the head, and ten feet to the tip of the shoulder, 

 leaving eight feet from the shoulders to the head. If its 

 body then were three feet deep, there would be still seven 

 feet under the belly. The hinder paft of the body is so 

 low, that when tne animal is standing, it has the appear- 

 ance of a dog silting ; and this form renders all its motions 

 laborious, awkward and tiresome. Hence it retires into 

 remote places, where it is not likely to be pursued and 

 is therefore rarely to be met with. A young one beiisj 



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