224 WILD ANIMALS. 



bordered witli red ; deputations from the various towns met her on 

 her way ; the cows sent from Egypt with her, to supply her with 

 milk during the passage, accompanied her ; and she was not only 

 escorted by the before-mentioned gentlemen, but by Atie, her 

 Darfour negro, Hassan, her Arab attendant, a Marseillois groom, 

 and a mulatto who served as an interpreter to the two former. 

 The Archbishop of Lyons being very desirous that she should pay 

 him a visit, the prefect of the city and several horsemen set out to 

 meet the cavalcade, and lead it to his Grace's house ; but unfor- 

 tunately, the giraffe, frightened at their appearance, broke from 

 her conductors and fled. The horsemen pursued, when turning 

 suddenly round, she in her turn frightened the horses ; the prefect 

 rolled on to the professor, the professor on to the ground, and the 

 confusion was complete. The innocent cause of it, however, quietly 

 walked back to the stable she had left in the morning, and no 

 further attempt was made to introduce her to the archbishop. A 

 party from Paris met her at Fontainebleau, and her entrance to 

 the Garden of Plants resembled a triumphal procession ; she was led 

 by her four attendants, was surrounded by the professors, troops 

 kept the public from pressing on her, and her three cows and the 

 antelope who came with her from Egypt, followed in a carriage. She 

 was first placed in a large building called the Orangery, and was 

 only suffered to walk out in that division of the garden named 

 the School of Botany, when the weather was warm and sunny. 

 Nothing could exceed the- curiosity she excited. Her place of 

 exercise was generally surrounded by 10,000 persons at a time, and 

 13,000 more than the usual number of passengers daily crossed 

 over the Pont d'Austerlitz, which is opposite to one of the gates 

 of the garden. This eagerness lasted for many weeks, and not 

 only all the people of Paris, but of the environs, went to behold 

 the giraffe. A fresh portrait of her was published every week ; 

 representations of her in various attitudes decorated every box, 

 every fan, and even the ribbons of the ladies ; and men and women 

 wore gloves, shoes, waistcoats, gowns, and bonnets of the same 

 colour as the spots on her sides." 



In England there is no record of the animal ever having been 

 seen until the one that fell to the lot of George the Fourth arrived. 



