1 64 SAFARI 



rifle shot of the giraffe there is no trick to kill it. 

 There is no danger and no dodging. Indeed its 

 curiosity puts him at an even bigger disadvantage 

 than its helplessness. For it will stand and watch a 

 safari until the travellers are out of sight. It will 

 watch as long as it dares when the hunter ap- 

 proaches. And even when it runs it will not go 

 far because its curiosity soon gets the better of its 

 fear. 



Sometimes Boer settlers kill giraffes for their 

 animal's hide, which is the second only to that of the 

 elephant and the rhinoceros for thickness and tough- 

 ness. By slicing a cylinder of the hide around and 

 around the Boer fashions a long durable whip which, 

 when properly ctured, makes an ideal article for 

 driving his oxen which he hitches in teams running 

 above twenty animals. The skin also makes excel- 

 lent harness and boots. But the British government 

 recognizes the likelihood that the giraffe will soon 

 become extinct and protects them assiduously against 

 commercial exploitation. 



Natives rarely kill the giraffe, though the meat is 

 considered very tasty by them. Their greatest 

 desire for a dead giraffe rises from their superstition 

 that the hairs out of a giraffe's tail are fine medicine 

 against the onslaught of evil spirits. They braid 

 this hair, which is black and wiry, into attractive 

 bracelets and necklaces which they wear night and day. 



