National Museum at Paris. 23 
giratte, to whom I paid frequent visits. She is the only sur- 
vivor of the three which left Africa much about the same time, 
and inhabits the large round building in the centre of the me- 
nagery, called the Rotonde. Great care is taken to shelter her 
from the cold, and in the winter she has a kind of hood and 
cape, which reach the length of her neck, and a body cloth, 
all made of woollen materials. She is only suffered to walk 
m her little park when the sun shines upon it, and if care and 
attention can compensate for the loss of liberty, eee ought to 
be the happiest of her kind. She stands about 124 ft. “high, 
and her skin, with its light brown spots, shines like satin ; but 
1 confess I was disappointed with regard to her beauty. She 
looks best when lyi ing down, or standing perfectly upright, i in 
which posture she is very dignified ; but fhe moment she moves 
she becomes awkward, in consequence of the disproportion of 
the hinder parts of her body, and the immense length of her 
neck, which, instead of being arched, forms an angle with her 
Ehanideh s. When she eallops, her hind feet advance: 1 bey ond 
those in front, and the peculiarity of gait caused by moving the 
hind and fore feet on the same side, at the same time, is very 
striking. She has great difficulty in reaching the ground with 
her mouth, and was s obliged to make two efforts to Separate her 
fore legs before she could reach a cistern placed on the pave- 
ment. Her head is of remarkable beauty, and the expression 
of her full black eyes is mild and affectionate; her tongue islong, 
black, and pointed. She is extremely gentle, yet full of frolic 
and animation, and when walking in the. menagery, her keeper 
is obliged to hold her head to pr revent her biting off the young 
branches of the trees. Her great delight, how ever, is to eat 
rose leaves, and she devours them with the greatest avidity. 
‘The African cows, with humps on their shoulder s, who sup- 
plied her with milk during her passage to Kurope, are as gentle 
as their nursling, and w hen feeding her they come and ‘softly 
push your elbows to have their share. Turning from the 
giraffe one day, and proceeding a yard or two in order to 
satisfy them, I suddenly felt something overshadow me, and 
this was no less than the giraffe, who, without quitting her 
place, bent her head over mine, and helped herself to the 
carrots in my hand. Her keeper, named Ati, and from Dar- 
fur, is a tall well-proportioned black, and at his own request 
a little gallery has been erected for him in the stable of his 
charge, where he sleeps and keeps all his property. When 
in ac tenidlante he dresses in the turban, vest, and full trowsers 
of his country, but when he walks into Paris he assumes the 
European costume, for in his native garb all the children in 
the streets recognise him, and calling out, ‘¢ Addi! Ati ! comment 
Cc 4 
