y, Settlement, and Commerce Book I. 
g two Bunches 
unches were not 
which was as flat 
^.cr Part of the Back •, 
^iandulous Subftances, about 
v.e added, that, as to the common 
v-ihg a Supply of frefh Water in their 
^ TT .i ; which, in extreme Neceftity, Travellers fome- 
A were forced to have recourfe to in the Defarts for 
the faving of their Dives, it was abfolutely a Fable, 
without the lead Foundation a . 
The famous Shah Iehan , who governed the Indian 
Empire with fo much Reputation, contrived a Method, by 
which he made the Dromedaries extremely ufeful to 'him 
in time of War ; which was a thing unthought of by any of 
his PredecefFors, becaufe they are a timorous Animal, and 
cannot be brought to charge like a Horfe : But this Emperor 
made them ufeful in another way :■ A Rebellion broke out 
near the City of Agra in his Abfence, on a Supposition, 
that it was impoffible for him to march back again before 
the Rebels had affembled Forces enough to make them- 
felves Makers of his Capital. Fie was no fooner informed 
of this, than he mounted 12,000 of his choiceft Troops 
upon Dromedaries, and, in the Space of nine Days, made 
a March of feven hundred Miles •, which fo aftonilhed the 
Rebels, when they heard that the Emperor was within a 
few Miles of them, that they dilperfed without a Blow, 
and he had the Honour of fuppreffing, by the Quicknefs 
of his Invention, an Infurreclion, that, if the Chiefs of it 
had gained time to have executed their Purpofe, might pof- 
fibly have deprived him of the Government; for, it was af- 
terwards known, that fume of the Generals of his Army had 
fecret Intrigues with the Malecontents ; but this fudden Vic- 
tory, gained by theSwiftnefs of his Dromedaries, difappointed 
them mtirely, and obliged them to lay afide their Defign b . 
16. The Giraffe, or Camelopardus, as it is called by 
the Antients, was a Creature better known to them than it 
is to us. According to the Accounts they give us of it, it 
refembled the Camel only in its Head and Neck, which it 
carried more upright ; and had from thence a bolder and 
a fiercer Afpeft. The Hair was either red mixed with 
white, or white mixed with red. It was of the Height of 
a Horfe, and fhaped like it in the Cheft ; but towards the 
Reins it was fo (lender, as to be more like the Ape than 
any other Creature. All that Pliny tells us of it is, that 
the Ethiopians called it JSabis ; and that the Hrft time it 
was feen at Rome , was when the Circenfian Games were ex- 
hibited by C<zfar the Dictator. Since that time, fays he, 
this Creature comes now-and-then to Rome , more to be 
gazed on for the Singularity of its Appearance, than for any 
Savagenefs in its Nature . of which, fays he, it has fo 
little, that fome ftile it a wild Sheep. 
c The celebrated Ranchymerus , who was at Conjlantinople 
when one of thefe was brought thither, in the Reign of the 
Emperor Michael Paleeologus, towards the Clofe of the 
thirteenth Century, gives us a larger Defcription of it d than 
is any-where to be met with ; and therefore I fhall tran- 
fcribe it ; the rather becaufe this is an Author not fre- 
quently' cited : ‘The Giraffe, fays he, is an Animal fo 
4 rare, and fo wonderful, that I have thought it not im- 
4 proper to infert a Defcription of it, to refrefh the Me- 
4 mories of fuch as faw it, and to make it known to fuch 
\ as, perhaps, have not heard of it before. It is of the 
4 Bignefs of an Afs ; its Colour white, fpotted like aPan- 
5 their, but with red. Its Shape refembles that of thofe 
4 Camels which have a Rifmg in their Back, from their 
4 Tails to their Shoulders : Its Fore-legs are longer than 
s its Hinder ones ; its Neck (lender like that of a Crane, 
4 with a {mall Plead, fhaped like that of a Camel : The 
4 Belly white; and a broad Streak of Black down its Back, 
4 from the Neck to the Tail; its Legs exceedingly thin, 
4 and its Floofs cloven, like thofe of the Deer. It was fo 
4 gentle, that it fuffeied itfelf to be touched, and even to 
4 be guided, by a Child. The Food of this Animal was 
, 4 Herbs, Meal, and Barley. When attacked, it does not 
4 defend itfelf with its Heels, as Horfes do ; nor with 
4 Horns, like Oxen ; nor with Tufks, like the wild Boars j 
4 nor with its Nails, as Cats ; but with its Teeth ; which, 
4 however, are not very (harp, and ferve rather to repel an 
4 Injury, than to revenge it : Nay, even thefe Teeth have 
4 nothing in them venomous, like thofe ..of mod other 
4 Animals.. This Creature was brought from Ethiopia , 
4 and preferred to the Emperor, who ordered it to be led 
4 thro 5 the. principal Streets of the City, for feveral Days, 
4 for the Diverfion of his Subjects d This is a clear and 
plain Defcription from an Eye-witnefs ; fo that there is 
not the lead Reafon to fufpecft, as fome have done, that 
this is an imaginary Animal, and a Creature that never 
had Exiftence in Nature., I do not indeed pretend to deny, 
that fome fuch imaginary Animals are to be met with in 
the Writings of the Antients : On the contrary, I fhall 
give fome Inftances of this kind hereafter. At prefent, I 
think it better to .prefent the Reader, with another Defcrip- 
tion, from an Eye-witnefs likewife : But it will be ne.cefiary 
to premife, in the firft Place, that the Author I am new 
going to quote, was certainly miftaken as to his Fad: ; for 
the Creatures he mentions, could not be thofe deferibed by 
Pliny, and by the Author I have before cited ; whofe De- 
fcription agrees very well with wha t Pliny fays of them. /, ? ■ 
Rcllonhts deferibes them thus d : 4 1 faw, fays he, a Couple 
4 of them at Grand Cairo ; each having two little Horns 
4 in the Forehead, about five Inches long ; between which. 
4 appeared a Bunch, like a third Horn, about two Inches, 
4 high : From the Tail to the Crown of the Head, was 
4 about eighteen Feet : Flis Legs were much of a Length 
4 before and behind ; but the Upper-joint, or Shoulder- 
4 bone, was much longer than the Thigh : His Back 
4 doped, like the Ridge of a Houfe ; his whole Body re- 
4 {enabling, in Colour, that of a Deer ; but fprinkled all 
4 over with large fquare Spots. Elis Feet were cloven, 
4 like thofe of an Ox ; his Upper-lip hanging over the 
4 under: His Tail (lender, indifferently thin of Hair, and 
4 tufted at the End ; his Mane like that of a Horfe : And 
4 he limped in moving, firft on the Right Leg, and then 
4 on the Left : When he eat, drank, or took any thing. 
4 from the Ground, he dretched out his Fore-feet ; for 
4 otherwife they would have hindered him. Flis longue, 
4 as Jofeph Barbaras writes, is two Feet in Length; of a 
4 dark-blue Colour, long and round like, an Eel ; with 
4 which he gathers Herbs, Leaves, and Grafs, into his 
4 Mouth, with wonderful Dexterity.’ 
There is, without doubt, a very wide Difference be- 
tween thefe Defcriptions, infomuch that I very much 
doubt whether they belong to the fame Animal : But the 
Queflion is, which mod: refembles the Camelopardus of 
the Antients : And I muff confefs, that, in my Opinion, 
it is the firft ; at leaft it is certain, that this is the Creature 
which is called a Giraffe in the. Indies, and is frequently 
found in the Woods of Bengal. As for the Creature 
which Bellonius faw at Cairo , it is an Animal common 
enough in Ethiopia ; and is deferibed by Bather Alphonfa 
Mendez under the Name of Strntho-camelus , that .is, the 
Oftrich Camel ; becaufe, fays he, it refembles, in its 
Shape, the Oftrich : But this Creature is allowed by aU, 
who have feen it, to be the tailed Animal in the Vv 01 Id . 
For, though much flenderer, it is higher than an Elephant. 
Its fore Legs are commonly twelve Hands high, fo that a 
Man on Horfeback can pals under their Belly, as many, 
who have feen them in Ethiopia , pofitively afleit. but it 
can fcarce be believed, that if this Creature had been ever 
feen at Rome by fuch a Writer as Pliny, he would have ; 
given us fo fhort and dry a Defcription of it as tnat above- 
mentioned, when it nuift have been infinitely a gi eater 
Curiofity, than any that had ever been feen theie . 
On the other hand, it is very clear, that Pancbymerus sj 
faw the very Creature that Pliny deferibes ; and, therefore, J 
we have good Reafon to believe, that the Creatures , 
nins faw were by himonly filled Giraffes , as Mi. Ladolf, in 
his Hiftory of Ethiopia, blames Father Mendez very much I 
for calling the Creature. he faw Strutho^camskc and not), 
Camelopardus , or Camelopardalis , which is the Word uieu . 
by Pliny h The Amount of all this Reafonmg is no 
b Nat. Hip. lib. viii. c. 18. 
f Voyage du P Labs, tom. f . f. 
e Pachymer - Hip. lib,. ill . c, 4. 
293. 
3 Bellonf Qb fern. at. lie. ib 
AlphtmJA 
2 Hip air e' de Moguls. 
Pillex Ethiop. Relation. 
more,- 
