Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1902-02-13


okspi are its diminutive size, being
about one-third that Of the giraffe
1t. height is about siI feet, and it is
believed that large males attain a
length OF nine feet and a height OF
eight. Its hair is brown, straight and
like that of the horse, that on the
neck and the hindquarter being a
dark chestnut brown. The face is
almost pure white, the crown dark,
while upon each cheek is a deep red
stripe. The ears are long and very
wide and prominent, colored bright
reddish brown, with fringe ofblue-
black. The tails is Of the rat type
long and slender and without tuft.
The most striking coloration i, found
upon the legs, which, so far as orns-
mentation is concerned, are those Of
a zebra, the lines being almost exact
in their imitation. The forslegs are
ringed with alternate black and
white bars up to the shoulder, while
the rear legs have q black bracelet
lust above the hoof, then a white area
to the first joint, from there on to the
base Of the tail the skin is marked
with dazzling waving stripes OF white,
which extend from the rear forward,
giving the animal most striking and
extraordinary appearance.
That the okspi is on the verge OF
extinction there is little doubt, the
natives estimating that there are bro
ken bands on the Ssmliki aggregating
two thousand individuals. Every
museum in the world will desire spec
linens and duplicates Of this new ZOO
logical wonder, and the collectors who
provide museums will soon find Its
haunts, and the okapi, like many
other forms, Steller's rhytina, the buff
falo, the great aux and others, will be
killed off and rendered extinct.
The okapi is related to the Amen'
can prong, horned antelope, and is the
only living representative Of the fossil
Helladotherium, which, so far as
known, lived in Greece and Asia Mi
nor millions of years ago. The g.
rsffe has three singular prominences
covered with flesh and the extinct
cousin, the HelladotherIum. may be
considered a degenerate giraffe IN
which the cores of horns have almost
disappeared.
The African natives are famous for
attempting to excite the credulity oil
the white man. Long ago they dis
covered that rare animals were priced
equally with large tusks and fine
horns, hence the sportsman and nat
uralist in the Dark Continent are be-
si.ged by impecunious natives who
insist that they can lead them to some
rare and hitherto unknown animal,
and if the victim is easily deceived,
he is sometimes taken miles out OF bis
way to find the rara avi, to be some
well-known form. Hence these ns-
tive discoveries are taken with grain
of salt. After Sir Harry Johnston
had discovered the okapi the natives
said that there was still another ami
nal which the white man had never
seen. 1t was not a giraffe, but like
one, with long neck, long legs, striped,
but while the giraffe had three this
new and strange beast had FIVE horns.
This was almost too much to be-
lieve, but having discovered the rel
ative of the Helladothsrium Sir Harry
was in a receptive humor, so he told
the natives to lead him to the forest
where they had seen the hve-horned
giraffe and forthwith they set out up
on the journey. He was taken to the
wild and little-known region lying
east of Mount ElsoD, in the Uganda
protectorate, where game Of all kinds
was extremely abundant, eyidentally
not having been disturbed. On the
outer fringe Of forest Of low trses
the party came upon heard Of gi-
ra fes, the animals standing like stat
ues, really the most remarkable and
striking of living forms. Upon see
ing the strangers they broke into a
run, and clumsy as they were soon
outdistanced the natives and led Sir
Harry hard rae. over rough coun-
try. But 90 heavy and upgsinly an
animal cannot long continue a fast
pace and finally Overtsking the herd
Sir Harry brought down one Of the
largest bulls, which upon coming up
to 1t he found bore upon its head the
FIVE borns prophssied BY the natives
a new species. the iive-bOrned giraffe,
one of the most interesting additions