10 



Giraffe, which my companions assured me they would have no diffi - 

 culty in again discovering. The Arabs are very fond of the flesh of 

 this animal. I partook of their repast. The live embers were 

 quickly covered with slices of the meat, which I found to be excel- 

 lent eating. 



" On the following day, the 16th of August, the Arabs started at 

 daybreak in search of the young one, of which we had lost sight 

 not far from our camp. The sandy nature of the soil of the desert 

 is well adapted to afford indications to a hunter, and in a very short 

 time we were on the track of the animal which was the object of 

 our pursuit. We followed the traces with rapidity and in silence, 

 cautious to avoid alarming the creature while it was yet at a di- 

 stance from us. Unwearied myself, and anxious to act in the same 

 manner as the Arabs, I followed them impatiently, and at 9 o'clock 

 in the morning I had the happiness to find myself in possession 

 of the Giraffe. A premium was given to the hunter whose horse 

 had first come up with the animal, and this reward is the more me- 

 rited as the laborious chase is pursued in the midst of brambles and 

 of thorny trees. 



" Possessed of this Giraffe, it was necessary to rest for three or 

 four days, in order to render it suflficiently tame. During this 

 period an Arab constantly holds it at the end of a long cord. By 

 degrees it becomes accustomed to the presence of man, and takes a 

 little nourishment. To furnish milk for it I had brought with me fe- 

 male camels. It became gradually reconciled to its condition, and was 

 soon willing to follow, in short stages, the route of our caravan. 



"This first Giraffe, captured at four days' journey to the south-west 

 of Kordofan, will enable us to form some judgement as to its probable 

 age at present ; as I have observed its growth and its mode of life. 

 When it first came into my hands, it was necessary to insert a finger 

 into its mouth in order to deceive it into a belief that the nipple of 

 its dam was there : then it sucked freely. According to the opinion 

 of the Arabs, and to the length of time that I have had it, this first 

 Giraffe cannot, at the utmost, be more than nineteen months old. 

 Since I have had it, its size has fully doubled. 



" The first run of the Giraffe is exceedingly rapid. The swiftest 

 horse, if unaccustomed to the desert, could not come up with it un- 

 less with extreme difficulty. The Arabs accustom their coursers to 

 hunger and to fatigue ; milk generally serves them for food, and 

 gives them power to continue their exertions during a very long run. 

 If the Giraffe reaches a mountain, it passes the heights with rapidity: 

 its feet, which are like those of a Goat, endow it with the dexterity 

 of that animal ; it bounds over ravines with incredible power ; horses 

 cannot, in such situations, compete with it. 



" The Giraffe is fond of a wooded country. The leaves of trees 

 are its principal food. Its conformation allows of its reaching their 

 tops. The one of which I have previously spoken as having been 



