246 



GIRAFPE HUNTING. 



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scratched, probably by a hyaena, but even their terri- 

 ble jaws cannot do more injury. From any living 

 creature but man, these harmless things are safe, but 

 the lords of creation submit it to a fearful death, so 

 barbarous that it can only be contemplated with a 

 shudder. It is thus performed : Having placed the 

 victim on its back in a hollow excavated in the 

 ground, a fire is made around and over it, and so 

 roasted alive. After all, the natives that perform this 

 deed of barbarity are no worse than we educated 

 Christians, who place lobsters in a cauldron of cold 

 water and then boil them. The agonies that both 

 the unfortunates suffer, I should imagine, must be 

 very similar, yet I fear that there are very few of our 

 delicately-nurtured, refined belles of society, would 

 refrain from eating a lobster salad on this account. 

 It is sometimes wholesome to have these truisms 

 pointed out, so that those who live in glass-houses 

 should not throw stones. 



When outspanning there was a grand hulla-bulloo 

 among my people. Seven giraffes, evidently ignorant 

 of our vicinity, came suddenly out of the river bed 

 and went off to the southward at their very best pace. 

 Having only a small-bore rifle in my hands I desisted 

 from firing. As usual, when wanted, the horses were 

 some distance behind, under their guardians. This 

 was not the people's fault, for I had instructed them 

 not to hurry, so that my beasts might fill themselves 

 upon the succulent grasses that had sprung up since 

 the late rains. 



Here I met a trader (an old acquaintance), from 

 Lobengulc'*? country, going south with valuable loads 

 of feather and ivory. He had seen several troops of 

 giraffes within the last two days, as well as a fair show 

 of other game. He had complained much of the 

 lions, and not without reason, for they had killed his 

 only horse in broad daylight, and close to his 

 waggons. Hunting was not his speciality, as will be 



