I-., 



252 



GIRAFFE HUNTING, 



as I entered it in my diary an hour or two after it was 

 told to me ; several times since I have heard him tell it, 

 and in no particular did the description vary from the 

 first narration. However, I should tell the finale. The 

 old male he killed with one shot, and severely wounded 

 one of his consorts with the next, the remain- 

 ing lady, then took herself off. The next day the 

 maimed animal was hunted up, showed fight, and only 

 succumbed after receiving five bullets, having pre- 

 viously severely mauled several of the natives. Such 

 2l fracas as the above was indeed a treat to witness, and 

 its finale to participate in. I do not say this from any 

 spirit of bloodthirstiness, quite the reverse, but from 

 the knowledge that without seeing such episodes of 

 wild life, a thorough insight into the habits of the 

 brute creation would be impossible. To-day I wit- 

 nessed one of those extraordinary circumstances in 

 animated nature that no one can account for, viz., a 

 migration of those curious and repulsive creatures 

 known as "millepedes." These must not be con- 

 founded with centipedes, for they are totally different 

 insects ; as their name denotes, they are supposed to 

 have a thousand legs, while the other are reported 

 to have only one hundred ; a pretty good supply, 

 even if there should be employed a little exaggera- 

 tion in the above numbers. In the course of an 

 hour several hundreds crossed the trail made by 

 my waggons, and all travelled almost exactly in the 

 spoor of their predecessors. They varied much in 

 size, some being quite fifteen inches long and as 

 thick as my wrist. If impeded in their course, or 

 touched roughly, they rolled themselves up, with 

 their legs carefully folded inside the coils, thus 

 presenting only their hard, shell-like backs to the 

 enemy. All appeared to be moulting, or about to 

 do so, if such a term can be employed when the shell 

 is cast in place of feathers. I believe that they are 

 perfectly harmless, so, destitute of poison. This 



