Chap. 28.] 
THE CHAMA. 
277 
CHAP. 27. THE CAMELEOPAKD ; WHEIT IT WAS FIRST SEEN AT 
EOME. 
There are two other ^ animals, which have some resemblance 
to the camel. One of these is called, by the Ethiopians, the 
nabun.^^ It has a neck like that of the horse, feet and legs 
like those of the ox, a head like that of the camel, and is 
covered with white spots upon a red ground ; from which pe- 
culiarities it has been called the cameleopard.^^ It was first 
seen at Eome in the Circensian games held by Caesar, the 
Dictator.^^ Since that time too, it has been occasionally seen. 
It is more remarkable for the singularity of its appearance 
than for its fierceness ; for which reason it has obtained the 
name of the wild sheep. 
CHAP. 28. (19.) THE CHAMA, KND THE CEPUS. 
It was at the games of Pompeius Magnus that the chama^^ 
36 He speaks here of only one of the animals which resemble the camel ; 
the gh-affe, namely. The other, which he for the present omits, is the 
ostrich. 
2'^ The description of the giraffe, here given, is sufficiently correct, but 
we have a more minute account of it by Dion Cassius, B. xliii. In the 
time of the Emperor Gordian, ten of these animals were exhibited at 
Rome at once ; a remarkable fact, when we bear in mind that so few have 
been imported into Europe for many centuries past. The giraffe is 
figured in the mosaic at Prseneste, and under it is inscribed its name, 
nabi. — B. It has been found that it is unable to bear the winters of 
Europe. 
38 Its form being like that of the camel, while its spots resemble those 
of the leopard. Horace refers to it, when speaking of an object calculated 
to excite the vulgar gaze; Diversum confusa genus panthera camelo" — 
" The race of the panther mingled with the camel," Ep. B. ii. ; Ep. i. 
1. 195. 
39 According to Dion Cassius, B. xliii., these games were celebrated 
A.u.c. 708.— B. 
^0 This comparison can only be employed to indicate the mild nature of 
the giraffe. — B. 
In the older editions, the names here given to this animal were 
^'chaus" and ruphius the alteration was made by Hardouin from a 
MS. in the Royal Library of Paris, which he deemed of high authority, 
and has been adopted by all the modern editors. There is considerable 
doubt respecting the animal here designated by the name of " chama;" it 
appears to have been an inhabitant of Gaul, and in c. 34, is styled 'Hupus 
cervarius but the account does not enable us to identify it with any 
