| -—s« SOUTH. AFRICA FIFTY YEARS AGO 49 
tithe most excellent eating, a kind of venisony beef. They 
_were to be seen nearly every day in herds of from five to thirty. 
‘Shooting them on foot was a difficult matter, their great height 
iving them an extended view. I never stalked but two—a 
delicate head peering over a mimosa-tree nearly always detect- 
_ ing the coming danger before I could get within reasonable 
a distance with my smooth-bore. There is no difficulty in riding 
them down (as we had, of course, sometimes to do for the men 
when other game was scarce) provided you are a light weight 
and a fair rider, for a horse requires more driving up to this 
animal than to any other. The towering height and the ungainly 
‘Sawing motion appear to terrify him ; and to these must, I think, 
7 be added the scent. Horses have very sensitive noses, and 
try to are’ giraffes, as_in India they do camels. A good- 
" couraged beast soon conquers his fears, but I have had regular 
. ‘Gchts ante faint-hearted ones. Get as good a start as possible, 
sss your game as much as you can for 300 or 400 yards—for 
press them you must, or you may ride after their tails all day— 
d you are alongside ; a shot in the gallop with the gun across 
the pommel brings the poor thing to the ground, and you are 
shamed of yourself if it has been done wantonly. Eland 
ing, from horseback, may be classed with giraffe, as very 
tame after the novelty is over. 
_ I would utter two words of warning with regard to hunting 
4 the giraffe. Do not ride close behind him, for in his panic he 
__ sometimes lashes out most vigorously—I have had his heels 
whiz very ominously within a few inches of my head ; and 
m ny friend Vardon, in pistolling one that was standing wouhded; 
only just missed what might have been serious injury from a 
vicious stamp of the forefoot—and be careful after you have 
ired to slacken speed at once, or pull your horse to the right, 
your victim fall on you. 
Ihave measured bulls quite 18 feet—6 feet of leg, 6 feet of 
y, 6 feet of néck. For their peculiarity of shape, shared by 
r African animals, there must be a reason. Now we can 
erstand that ‘a deer with a neck that was longer by half than 
i E 
