222 'WILD ANIMALS. 



ventured to delineate tlie giraffe." The first part of this state- 

 ment, it has been pointed out, is incorrect, for in 1472, Mr. 

 Grilbert says, in his " Life of Lucrezia Borgia," a giraffe, the first 

 seen in Europe in modern days, was brought to Ferrara by the 

 Sultan of Egypt's ambassador. 



The collection of animals made by the Emperor Frederick the 

 Second in Sicily (1198 — 1227), included giraffes which were pre- 

 sented to him by the Prince of Damascus, and are described by 

 Albertus Magnus, and referred to by Raumer in his work 

 " Geschichte der Hohenstaufen." These animals must therefore 

 have been known to the Sicilians, for the emperor's menagerie 

 was exhibited for the popular amusement [in many places ; in 

 the early part of the thirteenth century, we consequently find 

 them represented upon the tapestries and fabrics woven at that 

 and a somewhat later period. 



Specimens of work so figured can now be seen in the South Ken- 

 sington Museum, and from Dr. Book's able catalogue we learn that 

 the Sicilians were taught the art of spinning silk by Mohammedans 

 from Africa, and that " from the east to the uttermost western 

 borders of the Mediterranean, the weavers of every country had 

 been in the habit of figuring upon their silk those beasts and birds 

 they saw around them." 



Colonel Yule states that a giraffe was sent by Birbars to the 

 Imperial Court in 1261, and several to Barka Khan at Sarai in 

 1263. The king of Nubia was bound by treaty in 1276 to deliver 

 to the Sultan three elephants, three giraffes, and five she- 

 panthers. These animals, which were called " seraphs " by the 

 Italians, must therefore have been well known in Europe about 

 this period. 



Gibbon is correct in his remark that Buffon, although he 

 described the animal, had never seen one. Levaillant, the 

 French traveller, who sacrificed his fortune in journeys made 

 in the interest of natural history, sent the Jardin des Plantes 

 the first stuffed giraffe which the Parisiennes ever saw. In his 

 description of how he obtained this specimen, after describing 

 the chase and his success in killing the giraffe with his first shot, 

 he continues, " Who would believe that a success like this could 



