The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-12 00:00:00

The Giraffes at the Zoological Gardens.

All friends of the Zoological Society will be much
shocked to hear of the great loss the society has sus-
tained by the death of two giraffes by fire. On
Tuesday last, Nov. 6, at 7.20 p.m., two keepers,
Smallpeice and Mundy, ran to the office in the Gar-
dens crying out, " The giraffe house is on fire."
Mr. Thompson and the other keepers were not long
in arriving at the spot. Dr. Alurie, the anatomical
prosector of the society, happened to be in the office;
he immediately ran with the keepers to the giraffe
house, which he found filled With a dense volume of
smoke. The two keepers having arrived a minute
or two before Dr. Murie, had opened the windows,
which be judiciously ordered to be immediately
closed. They then proceeded to throw water on the
burning straw,
and going into the stable in the
most plucky manner, along with Scott, the eland
keeper, trampled out the flames as well as they
could. As the smoke cleared off a little they found
the two giraffes, mother and child, stretched on the
ground motionless. They hauled them out as quickly
as possible into the yard, but alas ! found them
pulseless and not breathing. They
then re-entered
the stable and quenched the fire. The other two
giraffes would most probably have fallen victims to
the fire had nut the doors of their stable been wisely
thrown open and the animals turned into the yard
immediately the fire was discovered. They were,
when first discovered, breathing badly, and stooping
their heads, but otherwise they were not seriously
affected. The larger one of the two has caught a
bad cold, of which we trust, however, it will
soon get better. The origin of the fire is a matter
of mystery. It was confined to the eastward of the
three compartments of the giraffe house. The
straw, from some unknown cause, became lighted,
and the flames must shortly have spread over the
floor of the stable. It is supposed that a match
must, in some way, have got mixed with the litter,
and that one of the animals,
in walking about, trod
upon it and set it on fire. The walls are blistered
about Gft. or Bft., and it is a mercy that it did not
extend further. By the kindness of Dr. Murie I
have been enabled to examine the two victims of this
sad accident. It is very painful to see these two beau-
tiful creatures, but lately in the highest health and
vigour, now motionless and inanimate. The measure-
meats of the giraffes are as follows :—From nose to tip
of tail, large animal, 12ft. ; small, 4ft. 9 p.n. ; from top
of head to hoof, large animal, 12ft. sin. ; small, 6ft.
llin. ; length of mane, large animal, sft. 2in. ; small,
2ft. lin. ; head, large animal, 2ft. 2in. ; small, lft.
3in. ; foot to shoulder, large animal, Bft. ; small,
4ft. 10 in. ; horn, large animal, bin. ; small, 31in. ;
ear, large animal, 11m.. ; small; Bin. ; tail, with
hair, large animal, sft. 2m. ; small, lft. Gin. The
poor animals are much scorched about the belly and
legs, and the left hind hoof of the smaller one is
quite loose from the effects of the fire. The imme-
diate cause of death was suffocation from the smoke,
combined with the shock from the intense- heat of
the burning straw. I understand the animals are
heavily insured, but this Will not replace the noble-
looking mother giraffe and her pretty little young
one.—Frank Buckland in Land and Water.

The Morning Advertiser states that at the forth-
coming Paris Exhibition space has been allotted by
the French Imperial Commission to the Bible So-
ciety of France in the park surrounding the build-
ing; and with this society the committee of the
" Bible Stand" at the Crystal Palace and at the Ex-
hibition of 1862 have ma,ie arrangements, and pur-
pose erecting a large stand, permission having also
been granted to circulate the Scriptures in French,
Italian, German, Spanish, Russian, English, Hebrew,
Arabic, Turkish, &c. It is proposed to distribute
the four Gospels in smalibooks, as also the Acts of
the Apostles and Epistle to the Romans, &c., in the
above languages to the people freely. The Scrip-
tures circulated are to be of the authorised Protes-
tant version. (This refers, we must suppose, to the
English books only.) The books will cost about
£2 10s. per 1,000, and judging from the extent of
the work in London in 1862, it is not improbable
that 2,000,000 may be required, which will cost
£5,000, in addition to which about £l,OOO is requi-
site to defray the expense of the stand and for the
payment of eight or ten helpers. For this purpose
the committee are now making an appeal.