

the 



AN ATTRACTIVE SIGHT, 



261 



take horses on account of the tsetze fly. Yes, those 

 who wish to add to the list of field sports that they 

 have enjoyed, by ridin^f a giraffe to a standstill, must 

 hurry up, and be quick aboi. taking action, for the 

 time is not far distant when such a performance will 

 be a moral impossibility, unless it be accomplished 

 among the Hamram Arabs or other followers of the 

 Mahdi, a prospect that seems very doubtful at the 

 present date. 



William, my dri^-er, was mounted as formerly, 

 and I had my other "skimmel," a beast that I 

 knew could gallop more than fast for a South 

 African bred horse, but to do so he required ground 

 tnat was more than usually clear and free from 

 impediments. Our present hunting ground was all 

 that could be desired in this respect, so I deter- 

 mined to learn the relative merits, in regard to 

 speed, between a moderately fleet horse — one that 

 could well gallop his mile within two minutes — 

 and a mature giraffe, in the most fit state for such 

 a spin, that I could select. 



In a very open grove of what the Boers call kanieel- 

 dorn (Acacia giraffcc) I sighted the game. Appa- 

 rently they were quite unconscious of being intruded 

 upon, for they all were busy enjoying their morning 

 meal. I secreted myseK behind a patch of thick bush, 

 and, through my binocular, ^■/atched the graceful 

 creatures for some minutes. The delicacy with which 

 they apparently fed, and the sm;Ul quantity — not 

 more than a leaf or two — that thev took into their 

 mouths at one time, seemed entirely inadequate to 

 supp^" the wants of so large a body. Their tongue, 

 which is of an abnormal length, very sli\n, and un- 

 questioned bly very sensitive, by its retracted power 

 dr?vws the fresh antl carefully-selected loliage into the 

 feeder's mouth. From specimens in captivity of 

 course all this cari be learned, but I have observed 

 that shut up or serrj-domesticated beasts very much 



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