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are often engaged in the most desperate contests; and Dr. Richardson states, that "two male Wapitis were found near Edmonton House lying

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dead, with their horns locked into each other; and the moose and reindeer are reported to have occasionally died under similar circumstances."

Horns of the

The flesh of the Wapiti is dry and hard, but the skin makes the most valuable leather, preserving its suppleness even after it has been saturated with water. On this account it is much prized by the native Indians.

The Wapiti thrives in our climate, and might no doubt be easily naturalized. The Indians are said to use it as a beast of burden, or for the purposes of draught. In 1822, Mr. Bullock exhibited a pair of these animals, which drew a tilbury admirably, and were gentle and tractable.

Another fine species of deer is the SAMBOO, (Cervus hippelaphus,) a native of Bengal, and of the larger islands of the Indian Archipelago. The Samboo is perhaps a little larger than our stag; its hair is coarse and harsh, and of a dull brown; the horns are of moderate size, having sharp brow-antlers, and dividing at the extremity into two snags. The Samboo is bold, strong, and

active.

The AXIS DEER, (Cervus axis,) another of this genus, is a beautiful and gentle creature, abounding in the plains of India, along the Ganges, and in the islands of the Archipelago. Notwithstanding its eastern origin, it hears our climate well, and with care would soon stock our parks and preserves. In size, form, and colour, it is very similar to our spotted fallow deer; but the horns are not palmated; their stem is rough and cylindrical, and gives off only two snags: one, the brow antler; the other thrown off considerably higher, and from the inner side of the stem. The spots also are more regularly disposed in lines a broad dusky mark occupies the forehead, and a line of the same colour extends down the middle of the nose.

Europe, besides the red and the fallow deer, produces also the ROEBUCK, once common in the British isles, but now lingering only among the highlands of Scotland. The Roebuck belongs to a group distinguished by short sessile horns, (that is, having the base but little elevated,) without brow antlers, but dividing at the extremity into three snags or branches.

This graceful and active deer is the smallest of the European species, being little more than two feet high. Its form is light, and its motions

Wapiti Deer. surprisingly rapid. When hunted, says Bewick, "it endeavours to elude its pursuers by the most subtle artifices: it repeatedly returns upon its former steps, till by various windings it has entirely confounded the scent. The cunning animal then by a sudden spring bounds to one side, and, lying close down upon its belly, permits the hounds to pass by without offering to stir."

The Roebuck associates in small families, and requires a wide tract of wild uncultivated ground for its domain. It is both timid and impatient of restraint, delighting to wander at large over moor and mountain, in whose solitudes it finds a peaceful asylum. The colour of this animal is grey, with tinge of yellow, and with white haunch marks; the ears are large; the tail is short, the lachrymal fosse wanting. The horns are shed at the end of autumn, and renewed in winter, while in the stag they are shed early in the spring, and renewed with the advance of

summer.

The last deer we shall adduce in illustration of

the genus, is the MUNTJAK of India, (Cervus muntjac,) which forms the example of a section having short simple horns, rising from a footstalk, apparently beneath the skin, and running obliquely upwards, one on each side of the forehead, beginning as low down as the inner angle of the eye. These two projecting lines down the face have occasioned some authors to give the animal the name of Rib-faced Deer. The muzzle is slender and pointed; and there are two sharp canine teeth, one on each side, in the upper jaw of the male.

The Muntjak is one of the most elegant and beautiful of its race: in stature it is small; but its eyes are large and brilliant; its ears expanded; its hair close and shining, and of a dark reddish fawn colour; and its limbs slender and agile. A beautiful specimen, from the Dukhun, India, is in the collection of the Zoological Society. Its manners are free and confiding, and as gentle as graceful.

In the "Proceedings of the Committee of Science and Correspondence of the Zoological Society," vol. i. p. 104, Col. Sykes observes, that it is called "Baiker" among the Mahrattas. It is, he adds, " a native of the western ghauts of Dukhun, and is never seen on the plains. It has large

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suborbital sinuses, which it uses, apparently, for the purpose of smelling, dilating them to a great extent, and applying them to various objects; as is also the case with the Common Antelope of the plains, (Antilope cervicapra.)"

We thus close our selection of the examples of this beautiful genus, which pre-eminently displays the power of an Almighty hand, and which no one can regard without interest and admiration. If no portion of His works are devoid of that which claims our regard, and leads to the consideration of their Maker, surely such as, from their nature and elegance, are most gratifying to our feelings, and draw from us involuntary expressions of delight, must cause the mind to revert to their great Creator, who is glorious "in the beauty of holiness," and "dwelleth in light unapproachable."

Our next genus is that of Cameleopardalis, and it contains but one species as hitherto recognised, the celebrated GIRAFFE, or Cameleopard, (Camelopardalis giraffa, GMEL.) (See Engraving, No. 51.) It is needless to enter into a detail of generic characters separate from a description of the species where single, and especially when those characters are necessarily involved in the account. In looking at the Giraffe, we are immediately struck with the singularity of its proportions; so different from what we have admired in the graceful stag, whose movements are all elegance and ease. We see a tall long-necked creature, with a short trunk, raised on slender elongated limbs, walking along with rapid steps, devoid of grace or springiness; but when we compare these proportions with the native habits of the animal, we shall at once trace the connexion, and discover beauty where we almost began to fancy deformity. The head, as has been often noticed, is the most elegantly moulded part of the whole. It is small, and tapers to a singularly narrow muzzle, with a well formed mouth. The eyes are of large size, prominent, soft, and gentle in their expression. Between the eyes the frontal bones form a projection more apparent in the male than in the female. The ears are large and spreading; the lips, especially the upper one, are very moveable; but the tongue has this power of mobility increased to an extraordinary degree, accompanied, at the same time, with the faculty of extension, so as, in fact, to enable it to perform the office of the proboscis of an elephant in miniature; it is indeed an instrument of indispensable use in procuring food. The Giraffe feeds upon the leaves, twigs, and shoots of lofty trees, and especially of a species of mimosa; coiling its tongue round the branches, it draws them down between its flexible lips, and nips off the tender portions. This instrument, analogous to the long nose of the tapir, is black, and tapers to a point, capable, it is said, of being inserted into a ring. The senses, especially of sight, hearing, and smell, are acute and delicate. The head is supported at the extremity of a long, slender, flexible neck, down the back of which to the shoulders runs a short thin mane.

Both sexes have horns; horns not like those of the stag, periodically shed and renewed, nor yet like the true and permanent horns of the antelope,

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covered with a corneous layer, but horns permanent, short, and always covered with hairy skin. These are useless as instruments of defence; in short, they are neither more nor less than the protuberances, or footstalks of the frontal bones, which we pointed out as formed on the deer to be the base from which the future antlers were to spring. It would seem as if nature, having prepared the footstalks, was then arrested in the operation, and forbidden to complete her intentions; nay, her process, as far as it is carried on, is feeble, for these protuberances are by no means remarkable for bulk, and at first united to the frontal bones by suture, are not fairly anchylosed till an advanced period. To what are we to attribute this imperfection of development? It is to be sought for in the state of the circulation of the blood in the arteries of the skull. Look at the neck of the Giraffe; slender, swanlike, elongated, and raised up perpendicularly. Along this the arteries have to pass, conveying the blood to the head against the laws of gravitation. The circulation is necessarily impeded; the vital stream ascends with difficulty, and, instead of rushing in free tides, volume after volume, as it does in allied mammalia with necks shorter and carried more horizontally, or even in a depressed attitude, and that for hours together, as in grazing the verdant turf, it is transmitted more slowly, and in quantity more moderate; it permeates the arterial branches with less energy, nor is it adequate to a supply of osseous matter remarkable either for abundance or rapid elaboration. But are we to call this a defect? No; it is as it should be. Give the long-necked Giraffe the heavy oppressive horns of the elk or the wapiti, and what would it do with such ponderous instruments? They would paralyze every movement; they would catch among the branches; they would be obstacles perpetually in the way, and as weapons they would be worse than useless; for how could that long slender neck wield such engines of warfare? All is well ordered; the relationship of parts and purposes, of organization and habits, is never lost sight of. It is not without design that the neck is elongated, that the head is light, and the tongue made flexible; it is not without design that the horns are rudimentary; for such modifications the instincts and habits of the creature demand; the one part involves the other.

To support the neck of the Giraffe, we see the withers elevated, the spinous processes of the vertebræ being drawn out to meet the elastic ligament (ligamentum nucha) which runs along the cervical column in order to assist in retaining it in its natural position. At first sight, we are inclined to suppose the legs to be of unequal length, those before seeming unduly elongated. This disparity is, however, not real, and appears so only in consequence of the great elevation of the withers, and the preponderating bulk of the anterior part of the body; indeed, the line down the back, from the withers to the haunches, is so oblique, as to constitute a most marked character in the general contour of the animal.

The hair of the Giraffe is short and close, the ground-colour being a light greyish fawn, marked universally with large triangular spots of brown, or brownish black, arranged with a certain de

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gree of order and regularity, and approaching pretty closely together. The tail is furnished with a long black tuft at the tip. The Giraffe inhabits the interior of Africa, frequenting the wooded plains and hills that skirt the arid deserts, or the verge of mighty forests, where groves of mimosa trees beautify the scenery. The range of its habitat is, however, very extensive: it occurs in Nubia and Abyssinia, and the adjacent regions east of the Great Desert, whence it spreads southward over central Africa, till we approach the boundary line of the settlements of the Cape. He that would seek for it, however, must leave the haunts of man, and penetrate pathless wilds, traversed only by the quivered bushman, wide wastes, where the grim lion prowls, and the wolf, and the hyæna, and the wild dog hunt their prey. Here man is the enemy least to be feared; but the Giraffe often falls before the lion, though not without resistance; for, rendered desperate by necessity, it uses its hoofs as weapons, striking both with the fore and hind feet with rapid and impetuous violence, so that sometimes it is said to be successful, and still oftener will it bear away its ferocious antagonist clinging on, with teeth and talons, before sinking_prostrate in death. The following lines, by Mr. Pringle, have often been quoted; but they are so spirited and descriptive, that we cannot refrain from presenting them to our reader :

"Would'st thou view the lion's den?
Search afar from haunts of men;
Where the reed-encircled fountain
Oozes from the rocky mountain,
By its verdure far descried
'Mid the desert brown and wide;
Close beside the sedgy brim
Couchant lurks the lion grim,
Waiting till the close of day
Brings again the destined prey.
"Heedless at the ambush'd brink
The tall Giraffe stoops down to drink:
Upon him straight the savage springs
With cruel joy!-The desert rings
With clanging sound of desperate strife,
For the prey is strong, and strives for life;
Now plunging tries, with frantic bound,
To shake the tyrant to the ground;
Then bursts like whirlwind through the waste,
In hope to 'scape by headlong haste;
While the destroyer, on his prize
Rides proudly, tearing as he flies.

"For life the victim's utmost speed
Is mustered in this hour of need;
For life, for life, his giant might
He strains and pours his soul in flight,
And mad with terror, thirst, and pain,
Spurns with wild hoof the thundering plain.
""Tis vain! the thirsty sands are drinking
His streaming blood: his strength is sinking;
The victor's fangs are in his veins;
His flanks are streak'd with sanguine stains;
His panting breast in foam and gore
Is bathed. He reels! his race is o'er,
He falls! and with convulsive throe
Resigns his throat to the raging foe,
Who revels 'midst his dying moans;
While gathering round to pick his bones,
The vultures watch in gaunt array,
Till the gorged monarch quits his prey."

Naturally gentle, timid, and peaceable, it is only when urged by despair, that the Giraffe attempts resistance, and then it is with a resolution and energy proportioned to its great strength. When pursued, the animal bounds along with

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such rapidity, as to outstrip the fleetest horse. Some have said its paces are awkward, and that the Giraffe is soon exhausted by its speed. We suspect this to be one of those theories which have no other foundation than supposition; for Le Vaillant, in his lively account of one which he pursued during his residence in Great Namaqualand, and which he describes as proceeding at a "smart trot," and "not at all hurried," says, "We galloped after her, and occasionally fired our muskets, but she insensibly gained so much upon us, that having pursued her for three hours, we were forced to stop, because our horses were quite out of breath, and we entirely lost sight of her." The next day he saw five Giraffes, to which he gave chase, but which, after a whole day's pursuit, he lost sight of as night came on. next day he fell in with seven, one of which he followed on horseback at full speed, but which left him in the distance, and was lost sight of; the dogs, however, resolutely continued the chase, and afterwards brought the creature to bay, surrounding it, but not venturing to make an attack, as it defended itself with a succession of rapid kicks." In the mean time, the narrator came up, and killed it by a shot.

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The

The Giraffe is one of those animals with which, until the last forty years, we were less acquainted than the ancients, whose accounts have been received with doubt, or even credulity. In Calmet's Fragments, No. CCLXXXVIII. the 3rd hundred, the writer expresses an opinion, that the Zamor of Moses is not unlikely to be the Cameleopard or Giraffe, which he thinks must have been known to the Egyptians, and therefore to the Israelites while sojourning in their land. Bochart translates the word, "rock-goat," supposing the Giraffe did not exist in the adjacent north-eastern regions. Now what the word "Zamor" ought to be translated, we do not pretend to say; but we cannot for a moment doubt that the Egyptians were well acquainted with an animal occurring in the present day in Abyssinia, and perhaps existing formerly, if analogy may be our guide, even nearer the limits of the kingdom of the Pharaohs. It is not a little singular, that the first Giraffe seen alive in England, was sent, in 1827, by the pacha of Egypt, as a present to his late majesty, George the Fourth; another also being at the same time sent to Paris. These two individuals were obtained while young, by some Arabs, a few days' journey south of Sennaar, in Nubia, near a mountainous and wooded district, and fed with camels' milk. By command of the pacha, they were removed by gradual stages to Cairo, and thence by the Nile, in boats, to Alexandria, where they were shipped for their ultimate destinations. Several living Giraffes have been since that period imported into this country.

Retracing the annals of Europe, we find that about the end of the fifteenth century the soldan of Egypt sent a present of a Giraffe to Lorenzo di Medici, and that it was familiar with the inhabitants of Florence, where it was accustomed to walk at ease about the streets, stretching its long neck to the balconies and first floors for apples and other fruits, upon which it delighted to feed.

The Giraffe was well known in ancient Rome.