171 
ch. viii] TAMENESS OF GIRAFFES 
bullets penetrating well, and not splitting into frag¬ 
ments, but seeming to cause a rending shock. 
I met with much more difficulty in trying to kill the 
young one I needed. I walked and trotted a mile after 
the herd. The old ones showed little alarm, standing 
again and again to look at me. Finally I shot one of 
the two young ones, at four hundred and ten long paces, 
while a cow stood much nearer, and the bull only three 
hundred yards off. But this was not all. The four 
survivors did not leave even after such an experience, 
but stayed in the plain, not far off, for several hours, 
and thereby gave Kermit a chance to do something 
much better worth while than shooting them. His 
shoulder was sore, and he did not wish to use a rifle, 
and so was devoting himself to his camera, which one 
of his men always carried. With this, after the exercise 
of much patience, he finally managed to take a number 
of pictures of the giraffe, getting within fifty yards of 
the bull. 
Nor were the giraffes the only animals that showed a 
tameness bordering on stupidity. Soon afterward we 
made out three rhino, a mile away. They were out in 
the bare plain, alternately grazing and enjoying a noon¬ 
tide rest; the bull by himself, the cow with her calf a 
quarter of a mile off. There was not a scrap of cover, 
but we walked up wind to within a hundred and fifty 
yards of the bull. Even then he did not seem to see us, 
but the tick-birds, which were clinging to his back and 
sides, gave the alarm, and he trotted to and fro, un¬ 
certain as to the cause of the disturbance. If Heller 
had not had his hands full with the giraffes I might 
have shot the bull rhino ; but his horn and bulk of body, 
though fair, were not remarkable, and I did not molest 
him He went toward the cow, which left her calf and 
