44 
THE GIRAFFE'S OBITUARY 
of the Admiralty.” Thus the giraffes came to this 
country under circumstances almost as imposing as 
those which marked the reception of that sent by 
the Pasha of Egypt to Paris. They travelled in 
one of the first steam vessels of the mercantile 
marine, one which had just conveyed a prince, and 
their comfort was provided for by the Admiralty and 
the Royal Dockyards. 
All four were safely lodged in the Zoological 
Gardens on May 24, 1836, an event which the 
Council of the Society justly claimed as highly 
creditable to its resources. One died in the following 
winter, but the rest continued in excellent health, 
and became the greatest public favourites in the 
menagerie. 
At the time of their arrival the largest was then 
about 1 1 ft. high, the height of an adult male being 
12 ft. at the shoulder and 18 ft at the head. For 
many years, as we have said, the giraffes throve and 
multiplied. They readily took to European food, and 
ate hay and fresh grass from the tall racks with which 
their stables were fitted. Onions and sugar were their 
favourite delicacies, and in search of sugar they would 
follow their keeper, and slip their long prehensile 
tongues into his hands or pockets. But they always 
retained a liking for eating flowers, a reminiscence, 
perhaps, of the days when their parents feasted on 
mimosa blossoms in the desert. Some years ago, one 
was seen to stretch its neck over the railings, and to 
delicately nip off' an artificial rose in a young lady’s 
