QrADRUPEDS. 317 



the lieutenant of Belisarius. Their uses in modem timea 

 are so well known, and all books of African travel are so 

 frequent in their description of these docile beasts of burden 

 that we deem it unnecessary to dwell any longer on the 

 subject. 



Very few animals of the deer kind, properly so called, are 

 found in Africa. The red deer, however {Cervas elaphrus), 

 one of the noblest of the tribe, and the most stately of all the 

 wild animals still indigenous to Britain, occurs in some of 

 its northern quarters. But to these it was not improbably 

 imported, at some unknown period, from Europe. 



Before proceeding to the more abundant family of the 

 antelopes, of which Africa is the great emporium, we shall 

 mention, as a species entirely peculiar to this continent, the 

 giraffe or camelopard, the tallest and, in every other respect, 

 one of the most singular of quadrupeds. Its appearance is 

 too familiar to our readers to require description. We shall 

 merely state that it is a timid and gentle animal, feeding 

 principally on the leaves of trees (especially those of the 

 genus Mimosa), and inhabiting the plains of Central and 

 Southern Africa. Its gait, or mode of progression, is de- 

 scribed as extraordinary by Mr. Lichtenstein. " We had 

 scarcely travelled an hour when the Hottentots called oui 

 attention to some object on a hill not far off on the left 

 hand, which seemed to move. The head of something ap- 

 peared almost immediately after, feeding on the other side 

 of the hill, and it was concluded that it must be that of a 

 very large animal. This was confinned, when after going 

 scarcely a hundred steps farther, two tall swan-necked 

 giraffes stood almost directly before us. Our transports were 

 indescribable, particularly as the creatures themselves did 

 not perceive us, and therefore gave us full time to examine 

 them, and to prepare for an earnest and serious chase. The 

 one was smaller and of a paler colour than the other, which 

 Vischer immediately pronounced to be a colt, the child of 

 the larger. Our horses were saddled, and our guns loaded 

 in an instant, when the chase commenced. Since all the 

 wild animals of Africa run against the wind, so that we 

 ■were pretty well assured which way the course of these 

 objects of our ardent wishes would be directed, Vischer, as 

 the most experienced hunter, separated himself from us, and 

 Dd3 



