I followed the herd
for about a mile to no purpose, through deep clammy ground and
high grass, and I returned to our game.
"These were my first giraffes, and I admired them as they lay
before me with a hunter's pride and satisfaction, but mingled
with a feeling of pity for such beautiful and utterly helpless
creatures. The giraffe, although from sixteen to twenty feet in
height, is perfectly defenceless, and can only trust to the
swiftness of its pace, and the extraordinary power of vision, for
its means of protection. The eye of this animal is the most
beautiful exaggeration of that of the gazelle, while the colour
of the reddish-orange hide, mottled with darker spots, changes
the tints of the skin with the differing rays of light, according
to the muscular movenment of the body. No one who has merely seen
the giraffe in a cold climate can form the least idea of its
beauty in its native land. By the time that we had skinned one of
the aninmals, it was nearly six o'clock, and it was necessary to
hurry forward to reach the river before night; we therefore
arranged some thorny boughs over the bodies, to which we intended
to return on the following morning.
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