^ A Vanishing Feature of the Velt 



Well do 1 remember that the first wild zebra I saw looked 

 to me little like a tame specimen in a zoological garden. 



The death-knell of the giraffe has tolled. This wonderful 

 and harmless animal ^ is being completely annihilated ! Fate 

 has decreed that a somewhat near relative should be dis- 

 covered in later days — namely the Okapi, which inhabits 

 the Central African forests. It may be safely asserted that 

 these unique animals will exist long after the complete 

 extermination of the real giraffe. The species of giraffe, 

 however, which has been dying out in the north and south 

 of the African continent will be represented in the future 

 by pictures within every man's reach. Every observation 

 as to their habits, every correct representation obtained, 

 every specimen preserved for exhibition is of real value. 

 And this I would impress on every intelligent man who 

 has the opportunity of doing any of these things out in 

 the wild. 



Professor P>Itsch saw giraffes in South Africa as late 

 as 1863. Shortly before these lines were printed he gave 

 a glowing account of the impression they then made on 

 him, an impression which was renewed when he saw my 

 pictures. 



Large herds of giraffes still flourish in remote districts. 

 My friend Carlo von Erlanger, whose early death is much 

 to be regretted, found the animals particularly timid in 

 South Somaliland when he traversed it for the first time. 



1 The author has often heard it asserted that the giraffe does much 

 harm to the African vegetation and therefore should be exterminated. 

 Such assertions should be speedily and publicly denied. They are on 

 a level with the demand for the complete extermination of African game 

 with a view to getting rid of the tsetse-fly. 



57^ 



