WITH FLASH-LIGHT AND RIFLE 



in the month of June, when the nights are starlit and 

 the days are cloudy. I had repeatedly noticed this as- 

 sociation of giraffes and elephants. Once I also saw 

 an old bull giraffe way up in the mountain forest amid 

 a herd of eland antelopes. 



The giraffe most likely prefers, at times, the woods 

 to the comparatively treeless steppe, not only on ac- 

 count of greater safety, but also to avoid the blood- 

 sucking tabanus and other parasites. 



When I first went to East Africa, in 1896, I was told 

 that the rinderpest had almost exterminated the giraffe, 

 and that it was met with only in the remotest interior. 

 No doubt that disease has carried off many giraffes, as 

 well as other animals, but they are still found quite fre- 

 quently. 



As much harm as the murrain may have done, just as 

 much, if not more, is done by reckless hunting. The 

 hunting of elephants and rhinoceroses being difficult 

 and extremely dangerous, the giraffe is a welcome and 

 easy target, not only to the white hunter, but also to 

 the Askari. This target-practice was frequently encour- 

 aged. It is to be hoped that the resolutions of the 

 international conference lately held in London for the 

 protection of wild game will bear fruit. The ordinances 

 issued for German East iVfrica by Count Goetzen are a 

 promising beginning. It is favorable to the preserva- 

 tion of the giraffe that the Mohammedan Sudanese As- 

 kari do not eat the flesh of this animal. 



180 



