February 9, 1836. 

 Rev. F. W. Hope in the Chair. 



A letter was read, addressed to the Secretary by M. Thibaut, and 

 dated Malta, January 8, 1836. It communicated various particulars 

 relative to the Giraffes belonging to the Society, which have recently 

 been obtained by the writer and which are now in his custody, and 

 may be translated as follows : — 



" Having learnt, on my arrival at Malta, that you were desirous 

 of information on the subject of the four Giraffes which the Society 

 has entrusted to my care, I regard it as a duty to transmit to you a 

 short statement, by which you will become aware of the difficulties 

 that I encountered in obtaining and preserving for the Society 

 these interesting animals, which are now, I hope, altogether out of 

 danger. 



" Instructed by Colonel Campbell, His Majesty's Consul General 

 in the Levant, and desirous of rendering available for the purposes 

 of the Zoological Society the knowledge which I had acquired by 

 twelve years' experience in travelling in the interior of Africa, I 

 quitted Cairo on the 15th of April, 1834. After sailing up the 

 Nile as far as Wadi Haifa (the second cataract), I took camels, and 

 proceeded to Debbat, a province of Dongolah; whence, on the 14th 

 of July, I started for the desert of Kordofan. 



" Being perfectly acquainted with the locality, and on friendly 

 terms with the Arabs of the country, I attached them to me still 

 more by the desire of profit. All were desirous of accompanying 

 me in my pursuit of the Giraffes, which, up to that time, they had 

 hunted solely for the sake of the flesh, which they eat, and of the 

 skin, from which they make bucklers and sandals. I availed myself 

 of the emulation which prevailed among the Arabs, and as the sea- 

 son was far advanced and favourable, I proceeded immediately to 

 the south-west of Kordofan. 



" It was on the 15th of August that I saw the first two Giraffes. 

 A rapid chase, on horses accustomed to the fatigues of the desert, 

 put us in possession, at the end of three hours, of the largest of the 

 two : the mother of one of those now in my charge. Unable to 

 take her alive, the Arabs killed her with blows of the sabre, and, 

 cutting her to pieces, carried the meat to the head-quarters which 

 we had established in a wooded situation ; an arrangement neces- 

 sary for our own comforts and to secure pasturage for the camels of 

 both sexes which we had brought with us in aid of the object of our 

 chase. We deferred until the morrow the pursuit of the young 



No. XXXVIII. — Proceedings of the Zoological Society. 



