THE GIEAFPB. 219 



gait is rendered still more automaton-like by the switching at 

 regular intervals of the long black tail, which is invariably curled 

 above the back and by the corresponding action of the neck, 

 swinging as it does, like a pendulum, and literally imparting to 

 the animal the appearance of a piece of machinery in motion." 



The senses of sight, hearing, and smell appear to be acute, but 

 the animal is incapable of any continued speed or exertion what- 

 ever ; Dr. Livingstone is the authority for the statement that 

 when pressed hard by a good horse for even two or three hundred 

 yards it has been known to drop down dead without any wound 

 being inflicted at all. 



For a considerable period of comparatively modern times, this 

 strange and rare animal was deemed a myth, and despite the 

 descriptions and even illustrations of it that were extant, it was 

 classed with the unicorn and sphinx of the ancients, being con- 

 sidered as a fantastic creature that only had had existence in their 

 imaginations. Gesner stated authoritatively that it was without 

 question such a beast existed, because it had been seen in Europe, 

 yet he continued to attach to it the fabulous origin from whence it 

 derived the name of camelopard, by saying it was the production 

 of a cross between the camel and the leopard. 



In 1769 Captain Carteret, in a letter addressed to Matthew 

 Matty, Esq., M.D., published in the "Philosophical Transactions," 

 there was an enclosed drawing of the camelopardalis caught near 

 the Cape, about which the writer observes, " As the existence of this 

 fine animal has been doubted by many, if you think it may afford any 

 pleasure to the curious, you will make what use of it you please." 



Although not a sacred animal with the Egyptians, yet it is 

 figured on their monunients. It is seen on the walls of the sekos 

 or cell of the Memnonium, and on the back of the temple of Ermento. 

 Again on the walls of the vestibule of the rock-hewn temple of 

 Beit-e'-wellee, or Beit-oualli, near Kalabshe, in Nubia, made by 

 Barneses IT., who reigned in Egypt about 1300 years before Christ, 

 the battles and conquests of the king are depicted in basso and 

 cavo-relievo. A cast of these scenes, made and coloured by Mr. 

 Bonini, is in the British Museum. In one place the king is seen 

 receiving the tribute of Kush or Ethiopia. The first bearers 



