The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-01-30


graffe-acacia and other timber bush,
and excellent grasses. Gradually all this
country will be settled by pastoral farm
ers wells will be sunk, and permanent
waters opened up. BY that time-not very
remotely distant CRATES south of the
Zambesi will have become absolutely ex-
tinct
With the horse the chase OF the giraffe
is rendered comparatively easy as even
native hunters have, unfortunately for the
animal, long since found out. IL Is true
that giraffes are possessed of very consid-
cradle speed and great staying power
But the secret of their downfall is very
easily discovered. If the hunter presses
his horse at topmost speed with whip and
spur for the first two or three miles of the
chase, he can run right up to his game
(unless the troop has gained an inordinate
starO, and either shoot the animal he
singles out easily from the saddle or turn
it from its fellows and bring it shortly to
standstill. AT their own pace CRATES
can run for hours together; but, pressed
beyond their speed, they become winded
and fall easy victims. A solid lead bullet,
planted somewhere near the root of the
giraffes tail, penetrates through the short
body easily to vital part and the animal
falls crashing to the earth With a broken
limb the giraffe Is at once disabled. Ac-
complshed South African hunters, and es-
pecially the Beers if a long way from
camp, are accustomed, having once run
their quarry down. to drive it before them
for miles and shot II close to their own
wagons. This is a mastery operation.
however, dependent somewhat upon the
direction of the wind, and Is only to be ac-
complished by skilled and veteran hunt
ers
The pace of the giraffe is, from it's in
ordinate length of leg, wonderfully decep-
tive. Viewed for the first time a troop
le- II,
pear to be going very slowly. With his
horse at a canter the hunter quickly finds
out his mistake and presently presses his
mount to it's utmost speed. If the coun-
try is fairly open, and he is well mounted
and has a fair start, he may expect to
ride up close to his quarry's sterns at
hard gallop in fifteen minutes. Pushed
to their utmost speed troop of giraffes
which in their gliding walk seemed to
steal over the ground with extraordinary
ease and smoothness, exhibit a marked
change in their action. At full gallop
the gait of these animals alters to series
of awkward, bounding leaps, the long
necks swing up and down, and the long
black tails, twisted over the backs, are
whirled rapidly round and round with a
loud swishing noise, which can be plainly
heard as the rider approaches. The gil
r4ffe, like the camel, progresses by moving
tie two legs upon one side of the body
simultaneously; 1t may be readily imag-
lined, therefore, that at top speed in its
legs straddled out very wide, it's action is
a very awkward one. None the less the
sight of a troop of CRATES in motion is.
from the magnificent coloring of the Great
ures, their colossal stature, their strange
ness, and the rarity of their occurrence
one of the most notable and extraordinary
that even the African hunter can hope to
look upon. And, assuredly, the spectacle
of a large troop of these animals brows-
inn .fftIr h.
which they love to wander, is one of the
most beautiful to be found in any part of
the world.
During the chase a strong, but not I'M
pleasant, musky odor is often to be no
ticed by the approaching hunter when rum
ming this gigantic game. This odor.
which will often a.arm a horse unaccus-
toned 10 giraffe hunting, proceeds from
the bodies of the animals In the old
males this musky scent increases greatly
with age and the flesh of the animal is
rendered quite unpalatable. Stink bulls
is the ungraceful if expressive name be-
slowed by the blunt Beers upon these old
and worn out males, which, having been
driven by their younger rivals from the
troop, are usually found ranging the for
ests in a melancholy solitude. The flesh
of young giraffes, and especially of a
plump COW. is extremely good, somewhat
like veal with a samelike flavor The
tongue ABOUT eighteen inches TO twenty
inches in length, is also very good But
the marrow bones furnish the greatest lux
ury of the South African hunting veldt
A giraffe marrow bone, about three feet
in length roasted over the campfire and
sawed in half. furnishes. with the accom-
paniment of toast or bread, a truly epi-
curean repast for a couple of hungry men
The extreme hight of a fun grown male
giraffe may be put down at nineteen feet
or a trifie over; that of a mature female
at about seventeen feet These animals
are practically defenseless When brought
TO a standstill they will chop out danger
ouslywith the fore feet If approached TOO
closely and occasionally among them
selves they butt with their heads, but
otherwise they are, unfortunately, quite
defenseless. Rutimeyer, the German nat
urafist has very well called the giraffe
"a most fantastic form of deer" In no
point does this magnificent duadruped
more closely approach the deer and ante
lope families than In the eye, which is
extremely beautiful-large, melting and of
a tender brown. shaded by long lashes.
The North African form OF giraffe, which
seems TO have been known TO the Egyp-
tians and Romans and was exhibited by
the latter in the arena, is as a rule paler In
color than its South African congener