184 THE GIRAFFE. 
organs by means of which it can select and gather such portions of the 
foliage as may suit its palate. The former object is gained by the great 
length of the neck and legs, and the latter by the wonderful development of 
the tongue, which is so marvellously formed that it is capable of a consider-" 
able amount of prehensile power, and can be elongated or contracted in a 
very wonderful manner. Large as is the animal, it can contract the tip of its 
tongue into so small a compass that it can pass into the pipe of an ordinary 
pocket-key, while its prehensile powers enable its owner to pluck any selected 
leaf with perfect ease. In captivity the Giraffe is rather apt to make too free 
a use of its tongue, such as twitching the artificial flowers and foliage from 
ladies’ bonnets, or any similar freak. 
For grazing upon level ground the Giraffe is peculiarly unfitted, and never 
attempts that feat. excepting when urged by hunger or some very pressing 
cause. It is, however, perfectly capable of bringing its mouth to the ground, 
although with considerable effort and much straddling of the fore-legs. By 
placing a lump of sugar on the ground, the Giraffe may be induced to lower 
its head to the earth, and to exhibit some of that curious mixture of grace 
and awkwardness which characterises this singular animal. 
In its native country its usual food consists of the leaves of a kind of acacia, 
named the Kameel-dorn, or Camel-thorn (Acacza giraffe). The animal is 
exceedingly fastidious in its appetite, and carefully rejects every thorn, 
scrupulously plucking only the freshest and greenest leaves. When supplied 
with cut grass, the Giraffe takes each blade daintily between its lips, and 
nibbles gradually from the top to the stem, after the manner in which we eat 
asparagus. As soon as it has eaten the tender and green portion of the 
grass, it rejects the remainder as unfit for consumption. Hay, carrots, 
onions, an.a different vegetables form its principal diet while it is kept in a 
state of captivity. : 
As far as is at present known, the Giraffe is a silent animal, like the eland 
and the kangaroo, and has never been heard to utter a sound, even when 
struggling in the agonies of death. When in its native land, it is so strongly 
perfumed with the foliage on which it chiefly feeds, that it exhales a powerful 
odour, which is compared by Captain Cumming to the scent of a hive of 
heather honey. 
To man it falls an easy prey, especially ifit can be kept upon level ground, 
where a horse can run without danger. On rough soil, however, the Giraffe 
has by far the advantage, as it leaps easily over the various obstacles that 
lie in its way, and gets over the ground ina curiously agile manner. It is 
not a very swift animal, as it can easily be overtaken by a horse of ordinary 
speed, and is frequently run down by native hunters on foot. When running, 
it progresses in a very awkward and almost ludicrous manner, by a series of 
frog:like leaps, its tail switching and twisting about at regular intervals, and 
its long neck rocking stiffly up and down in a manner that irresistibly 
reminds the observer of those toy birds whose head and tail perform alter- 
nate obeisances by the swinging of a weight below. As the tail is switched 
sharply hither and thither, the tuft of the bristly hairs at the extremity makes 
a hissing sound as it passes through the air. 
Besides the usual mode of hunting and stalking, the natives employ the 
pitfall for the purpose of destroying this large and valuable animal. For this 
purpose a very curiously-constructed pit is dug, being about ten feet in 
depth, proportionately wide, and having a wall or bank of earth extending 
from one side to the other, and about six or seven feet in height. When the 
Giraffe is caught in one of these pits, its fore limbs fall on one side of the 
wall and its hind legs on the other, the edge of the wall passing under the 
abdomen. The poor creature is thus balanced, as it were, upon its belly 
