40 



CAMELOPARDALIS (GIRAFFA). 



The Camelopardalis, or Giraffa (Cumelopardalis GU 

 raffa) which is by far the tallest of all known quad- 

 rupeds, measuring the extraordinary height of seven- 

 teen feet three inches from the hoof of the fore foot 

 to the top of the head, whilst (so disproportionate 

 is the form) that the body scarcely exceeds that 

 of a horse. Till lately the existence of so wondeiful 

 an animal was doubted by many European Natura- 

 lists, who ranked it amongst the fabulous monsters of 

 antiquity. 



This specimen was lately killed at a considerable 

 distance, in the interior of the Cape of Good Hope, 

 by the Rev. Mr Edwards, an African Missionaryj^ 

 now travelling in that country, under the patronage 

 of Lord Caledon, the Governor of the Cape. It 

 is represented as an harmless, timid animal, living 

 in small herds of six or seven together, in the plains 

 that border on Cailraria : they are so extremely 

 shy and wary, that it is w^ith the greatest difficulty 

 they can be approached : they feed on the fruit 

 of the wild apricot, and on the tender branches of 

 several species of Mimosa. This specimen, which 

 is a full grown male, and very rich in colour, is 

 allowed to be the finest ever brought to Europe, and 

 is in the most perfect preservation. 



Such is the excessive rarity of this singular animal, 

 that from the decline of the Roman Empire till the 

 middle of the eighteenth century its existence was 

 deemed extremely problematical, if not in the high- 

 est degree chimerical. The contradictory accounts 

 of Oppian, Heliodorus, and Strabo, at periods wheq 



