Show IN LN EUROPE THE difficulty OF OBTAINING THEM FOR exhibition jal anllo corrar was tho the clint to import alifi for tile mid and litter tain ment ot of the bourn populace england rugland san sair serl Seii eral in lu 1830 the first fint giraffe seen in europe since tho the tertiary epoch was obtained f from rom alexandria by julius julins cesar and exhibited at the games to crowd who expected from its name 11 camelo pard wd to to find iu in it a combination the size of a camel and tho the ferocity of a panther anther pliny who described it echoed the public disappointment it was a w biet ho he wrote as a sheep the trade probably reached its mari mum after it became the fashion to ex 01 hib babit I 1 t combats of wild beasts at boniti yet even then giraffes seem to have been scarce same in the popular shows though pompey y c could exhibit COO lions at a time tine and ald alie emperor titus at tho the dedication of his n new wt theater caused the slaughter of wild beasts eithel the number of wild animals in the provinces must have been beyond anything 9 gince since known or tho the roman governors must have used their despotic powers freely to oblige their friends despots aro are the best collectors and from the fall of the roman empire till the arrival of those placed in tho the goolo zoological gardens in 1836 16 the rare appearances of the giraffo giraffe in europe were I 1 in n each case due duo to the munificence of eastern sultans and pashas the prince of damascus gave one to the emperor frederick 11 II in 1215 and the soldan ot of egypt presented another to lorenzo the which became the pet of florence and used to bo be allowed to walk in the streets and take the presents of fruit and und cakes extended to it from the tb 0 balconies from this time the giraffe vas was not seen in europe until in 1837 1827 the pasha of egypt sent four to constantinople venice england and france respectively ively tile giraffe sent to england was in bad health and soon died lied but the pari parl went W wild ild over the pashas present it bad had spent the winter at marseilles and throve there on the milk of the cows which the pasha had bad sent over for I 1 its ta use from egypt the prefect of marseilles had the arms of france embroidered on ita its body cloth and it entered pans escorted by a darbour negro ilas gan san aa am arab a marseilles groom a mulatto interpreter interpret erl the ti prefect of marseilles biln himself relf and ani a professor from the I jardin dos des plantes while troops kept back the crowd thousands came caine every day to see it and men and women wore gloves gowns and waistcoats of the color of its spots spot bat but the tile successful expenditure by winch which in 1838 1836 M thibaut procured a stock of giraffes for the zoological society owed nothing to the patronage of the pasha 0 of f egypt beyond permission I 1 to enter the soudan the caravan left tho the nile near dongola and thence passed on to the desert of kordovan Kor dofan there M thibaut engaged the services odthe of the ara arab b sword hunters whose skill and courage were of such service to sir samuel baker in his expedition thirty years later to the sources of the tile nile tributaries tributa ries and in two da days a they sighted the giraffes A feissle with a fawn was first pur sued by the arabs who killed the animal with their swords and next day tracked and caught tho the fawn in the thorny mimosa scrub for four days the young giraffe was secured by a cord the end of which was held by one of the arabs at the end of that time it was perfectly tame and trotted after the caravan with the female camels which had bad been brought to supply it with milk the arabs were excellent nurses nunes and taught the young creature to drink milk by putting their fingers into its mouth and BO so inducing it to suck four others which M thibaut caught died in the cold weather in the desert but ho he replaced three of these an and brought four including the first taken down the nile to alexandria and then by ship to malta I 1 providence alone he wrote enabled me to surmount these difficulties from malta they were brought to london and safely lodged in the zoological gardens in the summer of 1830 1836 the largest was then about eleven feet high the height of an adult male being twelve feet at the shoulders and eighteen feet at the head for many years as we ire have said tho the giraffes throve and multiplied they readily took to european food and ate bay and frosh fresh grass from the tall racks with which their stables were fitted onions and sugar were their favorite delicacies and in search of sugar th they e 17 would follow their keepers and slip their long prehensile tongues into his lis hands hand a or pockets but they always retained a liking for eating flowers a reminiscence perhaps of tho the days when their parents feasted on int mimosa mosa blossoms in the desert some time ago one was seen to stretch its neola over the railings failings rai lings and to delicately nip off an artificial rose in a young ladys hat they were most affectionate creatures and as M thibaut noticed when in charge of them in upper tipper egypt would shed tears if they missed their companions or their usual attendants but the development of the lachrymal ducts which enable tho the giraffe to express its emotions in this very human fashion is less obvious than the wonderful size and beauty of the eyes themselves which are far larger than those of any other quadruped while the maddis abdis power remains unbroken at khartoum there is little probability that tho the soudan traders will I 1 bo to abl e to supply any ifo to occupy the empty house I 1 in regents park london spectator |