1 68 SAFARI 



history of man's knowledge of the giraffe compares 

 favorably with the records of sea serpents and the 

 like. For many centuries the accounts of this 

 animal put it in the class with fabulous monsters. 

 Travellers caught glimpses of its great height and 

 grotesque proportions and at once put it in the class 

 with satyrs, sphinxes and unicorns. 



It is recorded that the first giraffe ever seen amid 

 civilized surroundings was exhibited in Rome in the 

 time of Julius Caesar. So great was the impression 

 of the strange beast upon a very superstitious 

 populace that other specimens were brought in 

 whenever they could be got. The animals came 

 in through the Egyptian desert and across the 

 Mediterranean. But few withstood the hardships of 

 such a journey. In those days the giraffe was known 

 as the Camelopardalis (because it impressed the 

 naturalists as a sort of combination between a camel 

 and a leopard), which name stuck as camelopard 

 imtil recent years when the more simple name began 

 to be generally used. 



Before 1827 no giraffe had come to Europe since 

 the end of the 1 5th century. In this year a pair were 

 sent as a peace offering by the Pasha of Egypt to the 

 courts of England and of France. It is not on record 

 what the Pasha thought the monarchs to whom the 

 animals were addressed would do w^ith these strange 

 gifts. But doubtless he made an impression with 



