SOUTHERN AFRICA. 197 



from the rest by his dark chesnut robe^ and superior stature^ 

 I applied the muzzle of ray rifle behind his dappled shoul- 

 der^ with the rig-ht hand, and drew both trig-g-ers ; but he 

 still continued to shufile alono- and beino- afraid of losino* 

 him, should I dismount, among* the extensive mimosa gToves, 

 with which the landscape was now obscured, I sat in my 

 saddle, loading- and firing* behind the elbow, and then 

 placing* myself across his path, until, the tears trickling- 

 from his full brilliant eye, his lofty frame began to totter, 

 and at the seventeenth discharg-e from the deadly g-roo^ed 

 bore, like a falling- minaret bowing* his g-raceful head from 

 the skies, his proud form was prostrate in the dust. Never 

 shall I forg'et the ting-ling* excitement of that moment. At 

 last then the summit of my hunting* ambition was actually 

 attained, and the towering* g-iraffe laid low. Tossing- my 

 turbanless cap into the air, alone, in the wild wood, I hur- 

 raed with bursting- exultation, and unsaddling- my steed^ 

 sank exhausted beside the noble prize I had won. 



When I leisurely contemplated the massive frame before 

 me, seeming' as thoug-h it had been cast in a mould of brass, 

 and protected by a hide of an inch and a half in thickness 

 it was no long-er matter of astonishment that a bullet dis- 

 charged from a distance of eighty or ninety yards should 

 have been attended with little eftect upon such amazing- 

 strength. The extreme height from the croAvn of the ele- 

 gantly-moulded head to the hoof of this magnificent animal, 

 was eighteen feet; the whole being* equally divided into 

 neck, body and leg*. Two hours were passed in completing* 

 a dra^^-ing* : and Piet still not making his appearance, I 

 cut off the tail, which exceeded five feet in length, and Avas 

 measurelessly the most estimable trophy I had gained ', but 

 proceeding to saddle ni}- horse, which I had left quietly 

 g'razing b}' the side of a running* brook, my chagrin may 

 be conceived, when I discovered that he had taken advan- 



