We shall burn our riches ourselves. It is celebrity you are aiming for. If the narrative has a hero, it is Saint-Hilaire. He also fell in love with Zarafa. But the star of the show is Zarafa, and her natural history.
Giraffes have the largest eyes of all land animals.
The French became obsessed with their first acquaintance of the species. When Saint-Hilaire's convoy reached Lyon, more than 30,000 people came out to greet her. Now remembered as a beautiful but vague legend, France's first living giraffe was a national icon, the envy of Europe, the subject of songs and poems, vaudeville skits and political allegories, the namesake of public squares and streets and inns and even a form of influenza . One dreams today of such a guileless public obsession. In addition to Allin, the books publisher, Walker and Co., deserves kudos.