24 THE WONDERS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



the lion, its principal enemy, with its fore-feet, with which it strikes with such force as often to 

 repulse it. 



When the Giraffe stands erect, its height from the ground to the top of the head is in adults from 

 sixteen to eighteen feet. Its length is very disproportioned to its height, being only about six feet, 

 measured in a dh-ect line from the front of the breast to the point whence the tail issues. The fore end, 

 measured from the ground to the top of the shoulders, is about ten feet, whilst the hinder part measures 

 only about eight feet and a half. It has been erroneously considered that the difference in the height 

 which exists between the front and hinder part of the Giraffe proceeds from the inequality in the 

 height of the legs, but it has been now ascertained, and it is discernible in the skeleton of the animal 

 which is preserved in the Museum at Leyden, that the bones of the front and hinder legs are nearly 

 equal in their height, and that the inequality proceeds from the size of the scapula and the spinal 

 processes of the vertebrae of the back. The bone of the scapula is two feet in length, and the first 

 spinal process is above a foot in length, which accounts for the fore part of the animal being about 

 twenty inches higher than the hinder part. 



The skin of the Cameleopard is studded with spots of a ruddy or deep yellow colour on a dirty- 

 whitish ground. These spots are very close to each other, and vary in their figure, being sometimes 

 oval, rhomboidal, and even sometimes round. The colour of these spots is not so deep in the females 

 and in the young males, as in the adults ; and as the animal increases in age, these spots become of a 

 browner tinge, sometimes bordering on a black. 



The form of the head of the Giraffe bears some resemblance to that of the sheep ; its length being 

 about two feet. The brain is very small. The upper lip projects over the lower about two inches. 

 It has eight incisors in the lower jaw, and, like all other ruminating animals, has no teeth in the upper 

 jaw. 



The Giraffe has two horns on the top of the head, inclining rather backwards, but they are not cast 

 annually like those of the deer ; on the contrary, they are an excrescence of the bone of the head, of 

 which they form a part, and from which they project about seven inches. Their circumference at the 

 base is about nine inches, and their extremity is terminated by a kind of large hairy knob. The ears 

 are about nine inches in length, between which and the horns two protuberances are apparent, com- 

 posed of glands of considerable bulk. 



According to all the comparisons which have been instituted between the males and females in regard 

 to colour or form, no essential difference exists. In size, however, a decided distinction is mani- 

 fest, the females being always smaller than the males. The females have four teats, although they 

 very seldom produce more than one young one at a birth. The eyes of the Cameleopard are large 

 and bright, the greatest diameter of which is about two inches and a half, and the eyelids are furnished 

 •with long and stiff hairs in the form of eyelashes. The eyes have no suborbital sinus. In disposition, 

 the Cameleopard is mild and gentle, and it is believed that it is possible to domesticate it, but the 

 experiment has never yet succeeded. 



The Giraffe always inhabits the plains, appearing in small groupes of five or six, and sometimes 

 ten or twelve. The species, however, is not very numerous. When they repose, they lie on their 

 bell}', which accounts for the callosities at the bottom of their breast and the joints of their legs. 



His Majesty's Giraffe still carries round its neck the amulet, enclosed in a small black bag, which 

 Avas placed by the Arabs, and which contains some mystical inscription, which that superstitious people 

 believe protects the animal from sickness and death. The amulet, however, must have lost its efficacy, 

 as the animal is evidently on the decline ; but is the especial command of his Majesty, that the amulet 

 shall not be removed. 



