ANIMALS. 499 



those barbarous regions produce more expert huntsmen. It msiy 

 be remarked, however, that this creature, which was once in ^ucU 

 plenty at the mouth of the Nile, is now wholly unknown in 

 Lower Egypt, and is no where to be found in that river, exccnt 

 above the cataracts. 



CHAP. V. 



THE CAMEI.OPARD. 



Were we to be told of an animal so tall, that a man on horse- 

 back could with ease ride under its belly, without stooping, we 

 should hardly give credit to the relation ; yet of this extraordi- 

 nary size is the camtlopard, an animal that inhabits the deserts 

 of Africa, and the accounts of which are so well ascertained, 

 that we cannot deny our assent to their authority. It is no easy 

 matter to form an adequate idea of this creature's size, and the 

 oddity of its formation. It exhibits somewhat the slender shape 

 of the deer, or the camel, but destitute of their symmetry, or 

 their easy power of motion. The head somewhat resembles 

 that of the deer, with two round horns, near a foot long, and 

 which, it is probable, it sheds as deer are found to do ; its neck 

 resembles that of a horse ; its legs and feet tliose of the deer, 

 but with this extraordinary difference, that the fore-legs are near 

 tuice as long as the hinder. As these creatures have been found 

 eighteen feet high, and ten from the ground to the top of the 

 shoulder, so allowing three feet, for the depth of the body, seven 

 feet remains, which is high enough to admit a man mounted on 

 a middle-sized horse. The hinder part, however, is much lower, 

 so that when the animal appears standing, at rest, it has some- 

 what the appearance of a dog sitting; and this formation of its 

 legs gives it an awkward and a laborious motion, which, though 

 swift, must yet be tiresome. For this reason the c^melopard is 

 an animal very rarely found, and only finds refuge in the most 

 internal desert regions of Africa. The dimensions of a young 

 one, as tiiey were accurately taken by a person who examined its 

 skin, that was brought from the Cape of Good Hope, were 

 found to be as follow : the length of the head was one foot eight 



