-^ A Dying Race of Giants 



myself or my men. As I caught sight of that rare trio 

 I must honestly confess I had a strong desire to shoot. 

 This desire gave way, however, before my still keener wish 

 to photograph them. The temptation to use my rifle came 

 from the thought of the satisfaction with which I should 

 see them placed in some museum. It might be possible 

 to prepare their skins here on this very spot. In short, 

 I had a hard struggle with myself. 



But the wish to secure the photographs triumphed. 

 No museum in the world had ever had such a picture. 

 That thouofht was conclusive. 



The accompanying illustrations give both the colossal 

 beasts in different attitudes. The giraffe stands quite 

 quiet, intent on its own safety, or gazes curiously at its 

 companions. What a contrast there is between the massive 

 elephants and the slender, towering creature whose colour- 

 ing harmonises so entirely with its surroundings ! Wherever 

 you see giraffes they always blend with their background. 

 They obey the same laws as leopards in this respect, and 

 leopards are the best samples of the "mimicry" of protective 

 colouring. 



What long periods of hunger must have gone to the 

 formation of the giraffe's neck ! 



It would seem as though these survivors of two pre- 

 historic species had come together thus, at a turning-point 

 in the history of their kind, for the special purpose of intro- 

 ducing themselves by means of their photographs to millions 

 of people. I owe it to an extraordinary piece of good 

 fortune that I was able to take another picture of them 

 during a second burst of sunshine which lit up the forest. 



547 



