l more by the desire of
profit; all were desirous of accompanying him in pursuit of the
giraffes, for up to that time, they had hunted them solely for the sake
of the flesh, which they ate, and the skin, of which they made bucklers
and sandals. The party proceeded to the southwest of Kordofan, and in
August were rewarded by the sight of two beautiful giraffes; a rapid
chase of three hours, on horses accustomed to the fatigues of the
desert, put them in possession of the largest of these noble animals;
unable to take her alive, the Arabs killed her with blows of the sabre,
and cutting her to pieces, carried the meat to their head-quarters,
which had been established in a wooded situation, an arrangement
necessary for their own comfort, and to secure pasturage for their
camels. They deferred till the following day the pursuit of the
motherless young one, which the Arabs knew they would have no
difficulty in again discovering. The Arabs quickly covered the live
embers with slices of the meat, which M. Thibaut pronounces to be
excellent.

On the following morning the party started at daybreak in search of the
young giraffe, of which they had lost sight not far from the camp. The
sandy desert is well adapted to afford indications to a hunter, and in a
very short time they were on the track of the object of their pursuit:
they followed the traces with rapidity and in silence, lest the creature
should be alarmed while yet at a distance; but after a laborious chase
of several hours through brambles and thorny trees, they at last
succeeded in capturing the coveted prize.

It was now necessary to rest for three or four days, in order to render
the giraffe sufficiently tame, during which period an Arab constantly
held it at the end of a long cord; by degrees it became accustomed to
the presence of man, and was induced to take nourishment, but it was
found necessary to insert a finger into its mouth to deceive it into the
idea that it was with its dam; it then sucked freely. When captured, its
age was about nineteen months. Five giraffes were taken by the party,
but the cold weather of December, 1834, killed four of them in the
desert, on the route to Dongolah; happily that first taken survived, and
reached Dongolah in January, 1835, after a sojourn of twenty-two days in
the desert. Unwilling to leave with a solitary specimen, M. Thibaut
returned to the desert, where he remained three months, crossing it in
all directions, and fr