558 DEER. 
Besides the usual mode of hunting and stalking, the natives employ the pitfall for the 
purpose of destroying this large and valuable animal. For this purpose a very curiously con- 
structed pit is dug, being about ten feet in depth, proportionably wide, and having a wall or 
bank of earth extending from one side to the other, and about six or seven feet in height. 
When the Giraffe is caught in one of these pits, its fore-limbs fall on one side of the wall, and 
its hind legs on the other, the edge of the wall passing under its abdomen. The poor creature 
is thus balanced, as it were, upon its belly across the wall, and in spite of all its plunging, is 
unable to obtain a foothold sufficiently firm to enable it to leap out of the treacherous cavity 
into which it has fallen. The pitfalls which are intended for the capture of the hippopotamus 
and the rhinoceros are furnished with a sharp stake at the bottom, which impales the luckless 
animal as it falls; but it is found by experience that, in the capture of the Giraffe, the trans- 
verse wall is even more deadly than the sharpened pike. 
In spite of the great size of the Giraffe, and its very peculiar formation, it is not nearly so 
conspicuous an animal as might be imagined. The jong neck and dark skin of the creature 
are so formed that they bear a close resemblance to the dried and blasted stems of the forest 
trees. So close is the resemblance, that even the keen-eyed natives have been known to 
mistake trees for Giraffes, and vice versa. 
The Giraffe is generally found in little herds, sometimes only five or six in number, and 
sometimes containing thirty or forty members, the average being about sixteen. These animals 
are found of all sizes and both sexes, each herd being under the guidance of one old experi- 
enced male, whose dark chestnut hide and lofty head render him conspicuous above his fellows. 
These herds are always found either in or very close to forests, where they can obtain their 
daily food, and where they can be concealed from their enemies among the tree-trunks, to 
which they bear so close a resemblance. 
As the hide of the Giraffe is enormously thick, the animal is not easily to be killed by the 
imperfect weapons with which the native tribes are armed, and does not readily yield its life 
even to the bullets of the white man. It is but seldom that a single shot has laid low one of 
these animals, and in these rare cases the balls were of heavy calibre and made of hardened 
metal. The flesh of the Giraffe is considered to be good, when rightly prepared, and its mar- 
row is thought to be so great a delicacy that the natives eagerly suck it from the bones as they 
are taken from the animal. When cooked, it is worthy of a place on a royal table. The flesh 
is well fitted for being made into jerked meat. The thick, strong hide, is employed in the 
manufacture of shoe-soles, shields, and similar articles. 
DEER: 
Tuer characteristics by which the different groups of DEER are distinguished, as well as 
those which mark out the genus and species, are not at all self-evident, but are variously given 
by various zoologists. Most writers base their classification solely upon the horns, but as these 
ornaments are not to be found in every specimen, nor at every season, such a classification 
would evidently be impracticable in many cases. Moreover, the same species, or even the 
same individual, bears horns of quite a different aspect at different times of its life, while 
several species which are clearly distinct are furnished with closely similar horns. Bearing 
these difficulties in mind, Mr. Gray has judiciously employed several characteristics in his 
systematic arrangement of the Deer, and for that purpose has made use of the form and 
extent of the muzzle, the position and presence of glands on the hind legs, the general form of 
the horns, and the kind of hair which forms the fur. 
From the antelopes the Deer are readily distinguished by the character of the horns, 
which only belong to the male animals, are composed of solid bony substances, and are 
shed and renewed annually during the life of the animal. The process by which the 
horns are developed, die, and are shed, is a very curious one, and deserves a short notice 
