WITH FLASH-LIGHT AND RIFLE 



other German cities; but, although I tried my hand at 

 preparing the skins of three big bull giraffes, I had to 

 relinquish the task as impossible, for they were of the 

 toughest description. These skins grow, naturally, more 

 and more valuable the rarer the animals become. 



According to Mr. H. A. Bryden's report, ten years 

 ago, three hundred giraffes were killed within a short 

 time, near the Ngami Lake, in South Africa, by natives 

 hunting in the employ of European traders. The skins 

 brought four to six pounds sterling apiece. This was, 

 as Mr. Bryden states, only a small fraction of the num- 

 ber of giraffes killed at that time south of the Zambesi 

 RiVer. 



It is high time to secure as many skins as possible 

 for our museums; for, in spite of all protective laws, 

 the giraffe will soon be counted among the extinct races 

 of animals. Since the invention of the far-reaching 

 small -caliber rifle and the smokeless powder, the tall 

 animal may be easily killed even by an amateur hunter; 

 the target is large and the danger of hunting only slight. 

 Many animals, shot at by unskilled hunters, escape to 

 die in the thorny thickets of the acacia forests, and to 

 be eaten up by vultures and hyenas. It is fortunate 

 that the giraffe cannot be hunted on horseback in East 

 Africa — horses cannot stand the climate — otherwise it 

 long ago w^ould have suffered the fate of its South Afri- 

 can relation. 



I am convinced that the giraffe is absolutely mute, 



184 



