A GIRAFFE-HUNT IN THE LOLDEIGA HILLS 



of all ages, led the procession, while the old dog baboons brought 

 up the rear, barking continually and climbing into small trees 

 to get a better view of us over the grass. After following the 

 banks for hours and seeing no familiar landmarks, at twilight 

 I sent the native down into the stream-bed to find a sheltered 

 spot for us to spend the night, while I climbed up on a large 

 bowlder to discover the cheerful glow of our camp-fires half a 

 mile ahead. All the porters, with their loads of meat, hide, and 

 head of the giraffe, reached camp that night with the exception 

 of Faki. As he failed to appear the next morning, we spent 

 three hard and futile days searching the surrounding country 

 for him. At the end of the third day, when w^e had given up 

 hope of finding him, he came staggering into camp supported 

 by two porters, emaciated and partially out of his mind» but 

 still retaining the heavy rifle I had left with him. He had lost 

 his bearings in the bush, then became panic-stricken, and wan- 

 dered in circles until he struck our caravan trail a day back. 

 This he painfully followed into camp. 



Although farther in the country we saw a great number of 

 giraffe, occasionally an many as three herds being in sight at 

 once, this first old, rich, chestnut-colored bull was the largest 

 I saw during the trip. It was of the three -homed species, 

 known as the reticulated giraffe {Giraffe reticulata) , from the 

 fact that the fine white lines, separating the blotches of 

 dark - chestnut in the males and fawn -color in the females, 

 give the impression of a white net thrown over a darker 

 background. Owing to the thickness of the hide, I experi- 

 enced great difficulty in preserving and transporting out of 

 the country the skin of this giraffe down to the shoulders; 

 but eventually I was able to present it to the National Collec- 

 tion of Heads and Horns at the New York Zoological Park. 



