The Giraffe in History and Art
BY
BERTHOLD LAUFER
Curator of Anthropology
9 Plates in Photogravure, 23 Text-figures, and 1 Vignette
Anthropology
Leaflet 27
FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
CHICAGO
1928
The Anthropological Leaflets of Field Museum are designed to
give brief, non-technical accounts of some of the more interesting
beliefs, habits and customs of the races whose life is illustrated
in the Museum's exhibits.
LIST OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL LEAFLETS ISSUED TO DATE
1. The Chinese Gateway (Laufer) . . . ... . . $.10
2. The Philippine Forge Group (Cole) 10
3. The Japanese Collections (Gunsaulus) 25
4. New Guinea Masks (Lewis) 25
5. The Thunder Ceremony of the Pawnee (Linton) . .25
6. The Sacrifice to the Morning Star by the
Skidi Pawnee (Linton) 10
7. Purification of the Sacred Bundles, a Ceremony
of the Pawnee (Linton) 10
8. Annual Ceremony of the Pawnee Medicine Men
(Linton) 10
9. The Use of Sago in New Guinea (Lewis) 10
10. Use of Human Skulls and Bones in Tibet (Laufer) .10
11. The Japanese New Year's Festival, Games and
Pastimes (Gunsaulus) 25
12. Japanese Costume (Gunsaulus) 25
13. Gods and Heroes of Japan (Gunsaulus) 25
14. Japanese Temples and Houses (Gunsaulus) . . . .25
15. Use of Tobacco among North American Indians
(Linton) 25
16. Use of Tobacco in Mexico and South America
(Mason) 25
17. Use of Tobacco in New Guinea (Lewis) 10
18. Tobacco and Its Use in Asia (Laufer) 25
19. Introduction of Tobacco into Europe (Laufer) . . .25
20. The Japanese Sword and Its Decoration . . .
(Gunsaulus) 25
21. Ivory in China (Laufer) . . , 75
22. Insect- Musicians and Cricket Champions of
China (Laufer) 50
23. Ostrich Egg-shell Cups of Mesopotamia and the
Ostrich in Ancient and Modern Times
(Laufer) 50
24. The Indian Tribes of the Chicago Region with
Special Reference to the Illinois and the
Potawatomi (Strong) 25
25. Civilization of the Mayas (Thompson) 75
26. Early History of Man (Field) 25
27. The Giraffe in History and Art (Laufer) 75
D. C. DAV1ES, Director
FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
CHICAGO. U. S. A.
LEAFLET 27.
NORTHERN GIRAFFE.
After Hutchinson, Animals of All Countries.
Field Museum of Natural History
Department of Anthropology
Chicago, 1928
Leaflet Number 27
The Giraffe in History and Art
CONTENTS
Page
Giraffes 3
The Giraffe in Ancient Egypt 15
Representations of the Giraffe in Africa outside of
Egypt 26
The Giraffe among Arabs and Persians 31
The Giraffe in Chinese Records and Art 41
The Giraffe in India 55
The Giraffe among the Ancients 58
The Giraffe at Constantinople 66
The Giraffe during the Middle Ages . 70
The Giraffe in the Age of the Renaissance 79
The Giraffe in the Nineteenth Century and After .... 88
Notes 95
Bibliography 98
Copyright, 1928.
by
Field Museum of Natural History
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
In issuing this booklet I wish to express my thanks
and gratitude to many friends who have aided me with
photographs and information, above all, to the firm Carl
Hagenbeck of Stellingen for a number of photographs of
live giraffes and many useful data, to Professor James H.
Breasted for photographs of the Nubian rock-carvings
taken by him and published here for the first time, to
the Pierpont Morgan Library of New York for the photo-
graph of the Persian painting, to Mr. A. W. Bahr for the
loan of the Chinese painting reproduced in Plate IV, and
to the Art Institute of Chicago for the photograph of the
cotton print in Plate VI. To Professor Lucy H. Driscoll
of the University of Chicago I am indebted for references
to Italian paintings and important literary sources; and
to Professor M. Sprengling, for kind assistance in the
translation of Arabic and Persian sources.
The twenty-five drawings illustrating this essay were
prepared with great care and skill by the Museum artist,
Mr. Carl F. Gronemann, who likewise made the wooden
block for the colored giraffe-head on the cover.
GIRAFFES
Giraffes constitute a distinct family
of ruminants (Giraffidae), natives of
Africa (Plates I, VII-IX). Owing to
the extraordinary development of the
neck and legs, the giraffe is the tallest
of all mammals, the height of bulls being
from fifteen to sixteen, according to
some observers, even from eighteen to
nineteen* feet, and that of cows from
sixteen to seventeen feet. Despite its
great elongation, the neck contains only
the typical number of seven vertebrae
as in nearly all mammals, each vertebra itself being elon-
gated, as every visitor to the Museum may convince him-
self by viewing the mounted skeleton of a giraffe in Hall 17.
During the present geological epoch the family is
strictly confined to Africa, but in former periods of the
earth it had a much wider extension, and was distributed
over many parts of Europe and Asia, especially Greece,
Persia, India, and China, where fossil remains have been
discovered from the Miocene onward down to the Pleisto-
cene age. Its maximum development in numbers was
reached in the Pliocene of Asia. The living species are
distributed all over Africa south of the Sahara.
Two species are generally recognized by zoologists,
each with a number of subspecies or geographic races dis-
tinguished by variations in the arrangement of the spots,
especially on the legs and abdomen. The more widely
distributed species is Giraffa camelopardalis which ranges
throughout most of central and southern Africa. The
Reticulated giraffe (Giraffa reticulata) is chestnut-colored
and covered with a network of white lines (Fig. 1). Its
distribution is restricted to northeast Africa in Somaliland,
Abyssinia, and northern Kenya. This species will engage
Field Museum of Natural History
our special attention with reference to Persian and Chinese
pictorial representations of it.
The existence of the giraffe in the southern part of
Africa (Giraffa capensis) was first made known by Hop and
J^essiw
Fig. 1.
Reticulated Giraffe.
From a photograph of Carl Hagenbeck.
Brink's expedition to Great Namaqualand in 1761, who
found giraffes soon after crossing the Great River and shot
several. Tulbagh, the Dutch governor of the Cape Colony,
sent the skin of one of these giraffes to the museum of the
Giraffes 5
University of Leiden; it was the first taken to Europe
from South Africa. A rude sketch of the animal made by
Hop and Brink was inserted by Buffon in the thirteenth
volume of his "Histoire naturelle." In South Africa the
name "giraffe" is practically unknown, and the Dutch
term "kameel" is always used.
The body of the giraffe is short, and its shape is pecu-
liar in that the back slopes gradually downward to the
rump. The greater height of the fore parts is not owing to
the greater length of the fore legs which are not much
longer than the hind legs (the real difference between the
two amounts to hardly seven inches), but to processes of
the vertebrae which form a basis for the muscular support
of the neck and head and make a hump on the shoul-
ders.
The neck of all giraffes bears a short mane extending
from the occiput to the withers. The hair is short and
smooth, reddish white, and marked by numerous dark
rusty spots, which are rhomboid, oval, and even circular
in shape. The hide is about an inch thick and very tough.
It is used by the natives of South Africa for making
sandals and by the Boers to supply whips for the bullock-
carts, known as sjambok. With the practical disappear-
ance of the rhinoceros and the approaching extermination
of the hippopotamus in South Africa, there is a constant
commercial demand for giraffe-hides, which are worth from
four to five pounds sterling apiece. As a consequence,
giraffes are killed in large numbers by Boer and native
hunters, and may soon be threatened with extinction.
One of the most beautiful features of the giraffe are
the eyes, which are dark brown, large and lustrous, full,
soft, and melting, and shaded by long lashes. The ears
are long and mobile. The nostrils can be tightly closed at
will by a curious arrangement of sphincter muscles. This
is supposed to be a provision of nature against blowing
sand and thorns of acacias on the leaves of which the
animal browses. The lips are furnished with a dense
6 Field Museum of Natural History
coating of thick velvety hair, probably as a further pro-
tection against thorns.
Giraffes of both sexes carry two "horns" upon the
summit of the head. These are permanent bony protuber-
ances or processes growing from the skull, and are covered
with yellowish brown hair, which at the tip becomes black.
In the skulls of young animals these false horns are easily
detachable, but in the adult they are firmly attached to the
bony framework of the head, partly to the frontal and
partly to the parietal bones. Adults of the Nubian form
often have a prominent third horn, rising from the centre
of the forehead, between the eyes, to a height of from
three to five inches. The "horns," it should be noted, are
persistent, not deciduous as the antlers of deer.
The legs are long and slender; the knees are pro-
tected by thick pads or callosities. The feet have cloven
hoofs; lateral toes are absent. The end of the tail is pro-
vided with a long tassel of hair which the animals are in the
habit of pulling out. The tail is an article much in favor
with eastern Bantu tribes, and has a value of from ten to
fifty shillings, while a particularly fine specimen is worth
up to five pounds sterling. Giraffe-tails, as will be seen,
are figured on an Egyptian monument, and are presented
as tribute to Tutenkhamon.
The dentition of the giraffe is bovine: it has altogether
thirty-two teeth, six grinders on each side both above and
below, and eight teeth in the lower jaw, but none in the
upper one. These lower teeth consist of three incisors, and
are canine on each side, the canine having a cleft or bilo-
bate crown.
Its food consists almost entirely of the leaves and
tender shoots of mimosa-trees and an acacia (Acacia gi-
raffae) commonly known as the kameel-dorn. The leaves
are plucked off one by one by its long extensile and flexible
tongue, which is thrust far out of the mouth, stretching
around the leaves and pulling them tight, and then it cuts
them with the lower canine teeth. The tongue is about
Giraffes 7
seventeen inches long and covered with a black pigment.
The animals feed chiefly in early morning and late evening,
resting during the heat of the day. They are able to go for
considerable periods without water, and are found in the
driest country long distances away from any possible
drinking-places. The Bushmen even assert that they do
not drink at all; at any rate, they are singularly
independent of water.
The giraffe is a gentle, inoffensive, and defenceless
creature, and never uses its horns or teeth in self-defence.
Gibbon, the historian, justly speaks of "camelopards, the
loftiest and most harmless creatures that wander over the
plains of Aethiopia." The heels are the animal's only
weapon, and these may deal a very powerful kick. Carl
Hagenbeck tells in his memoirs that when he loaded giraffes
on a steamer at Alexandria bound for Trieste, one of his
brothers received from a giraffe so energetic a blow against
his chest that he collapsed and remained unconscious for
some time. The lion is said to be the giraffe's sole enemy
and to lie in ambush for it in the thickets by rivers and
pools. Bryden thinks, however, that lions do not very
often succeed in killing giraffes, defenceless though they
may be; and when they do, it is generally a solitary animal
(individuals of either sex are often seen alone) that has
been surprised and pulled down by a party of lions.
The steppe and open bush country are the proper
home of the giraffe, but occasionally it seeks the forest.
The animal associates in herds from seven to sixteen indi-
viduals, though sometimes even larger numbers have been
observed in a flock. There is usually a single old male
in these herds, the others being young males and females.
The oldest males are often found solitary. They are fond
of company and frequently live in association with zebra,
antelope, wilde-beest, and ostrich. They are difficult of
approach, being extremely keen-sighted, and their tower-
ing height enables them to command a wide view. While
their senses of both sight and smell are highly developed
8 Field Museum of Natural History
and very acute, they have no voice and are totally
mute.
They sleep standing, but some individuals, and in
some localities all the individuals, habitually lie down to
sleep.
The peculiar gait of the giraffe has attracted the at-
tention of early writers, first of all of Heliodorus (below,
p. 62). E. Topsell, in his "Historie of Four-footed Beastes"
(1607), observes, "The pace of this beast differeth from all
other in the world, for he doth not move his right and left
foote one after another, but both together, and so likewise
the other, whereby his whole body is removed at every
step or straine."
The giraffe, in its untrammeled native freedom, has
only two distinct gaits, — the walk and the gallop, not
three, as in the case of the camel.
"As may be gathered from observation of menagerie
specimens, giraffes when walking do not move their fore
and hind legs of opposite sides like ordinary mammals, but
the fore and hind leg of the same side, like a camel. They
have but two paces, a walk and a gallop, breaking at once
from one into the other, as I was once fortunate enough to
observe in a continental Zoo" (G. Renshaw).
W. Maxwell, who has taken excellent photographs of
galloping giraffes from a pursuing motor-car, writes, "The
giraffe, in its native surroundings, is one of the most cher-
ished objects to the nature photographer and the camera
sportsman alike. To photograph these animals by stalking
up to them in open bush country, which is their usual habi-
tat, requires skilful tactics." In his book "Stalking Big
Game with a Camera" he has reproduced the gallop of the
giraffe in three stages. "The speed at which the giraffe
can travel when driven to its utmost," he says, "varies
between twenty-eight and thirty-two miles an hour for
distances of a couple of miles or so, and is about as much
as a car can perform at a breakneck speed for this kind of
country. The speed of the giraffe varies, naturally, accord-
Giraffes 9
ing to the age and condition of the animal." The young
calves are said to be wonderfully fleet and far more nimble
than the adult animals. The giraffe, accordingly, is not
easily overtaken by a fleet horse, and is game that taxes
the skill of experienced sportsmen. Francis Galton (Nar-
rative of an Explorer in Tropical South Africa in 1851)
informs us, "Giraffes are wonderful climbers: kudus are
the best; but I think that giraffes come next to them, even
before the zebras/'
The following graphic account of giraffe stalking,
which simultaneously presents a good picture of the ani-
mal's life-habits, is given by Sir Samuel W. Baker (The
Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia, 1886) : —
"For many days past we have seen large herds of gi-
raffes and many antelopes on the opposite side of the river,
about two miles distant, on the borders of the Atbara, into
which valley the giraffes apparently dared not descend, but
remained on the table-land, although the antelopes ap-
peared to prefer the harder soil of the valley slopes. This
day a herd of twenty-eight giraffes tantalized me by des-
cending a short distance below the level flats, and I was
tempted at all hazards across the river. Accordingly pre-
parations were immediately made for a start . . . The Arabs
were full of mettle, as their minds were fixed upon giraffe
venison.
"I had observed by the telescope that the giraffes
were standing as usual upon an elevated position, from
whence they could keep a good lookout. I knew it would
be useless to ascend the slope direct, as their long necks
give these animals an advantage similar to that of the man
at the mast-head; therefore, although we had the wind in
our favor, we should have been observed. I therefore
determined to make a great circuit of about five miles, and
thus to approach them from above, with the advantage of
the broken ground for stalking. It was the perfection of
uneven country: by clambering broken cliffs, wading shoul-
der-deep through muddy gullies, sliding down the steep
10 Field Museum op Natural History
ravines, and winding through narrow bottoms of high
grass and mimosas for about two hours, we at length ar-
rived at the point of the high table-land upon the verge of
which I had first noticed the giraffes with a telescope.
Almost immediately I distinguished the tall neck of one of
these splendid animals about a half a mile distant upon my
left, a little below the table-land; it was feeding on the
bushes, and I quickly discovered several others near the
leader of the herd. I was not far enough advanced in the
circuit that I had intended to bring me exactly above them,
therefore I turned sharp to my right, intending to make a
short half circle, and to arrive on the leeward side of the
herd, as I was now to windward: this I fortunately com-
pleted, but I had marked a thick bush as my point of
cover, and upon my arrival I found that the herd had fed
down wind, and that I was within two hundred yards of
the great bull sentinel that, having moved from his former
position, was now standing directly before me. I lay down
quietly behind the bush with my two followers, and anxious-
ly watched the great leader, momentarily expecting that
it would get my wind. It was shortly joined by two
others, and I perceived the heads of several giraffes lower
down the incline, that were now feeding on their way to
the higher ground. The seroot fly was teasing them, and I
remarked that several birds were fluttering about their
heads, sometimes perching upon their noses and catching
the fly that attacked their nostrils, while the giraffe ap-
peared relieved by their attentions: these were a peculiar
species of bird that attacks the domestic animals, and not
only relieves them of vermin, but eats into the flesh, and
establishes dangerous sores. A puff of wind now gently
faned the back of my neck; it was cool and delightful, but
no sooner did I feel the refreshing breeze than I knew it
would convey our scent direct to the giraffes. A few sec-
onds afterwards, the three grand obelisks threw their heads
still higher in the air, and fixing their great black eyes upon
the spot from which the danger came, they remained as
Giraffes 11
motionless as though carved from stone. From their great
height they could see over the bush behind which we were
lying at some paces distant, and although I do not think
they could distinguish us to be men, they could see enough
to convince them of hidden enemies.
"The attitude of fixed attention and surprise of the
three giraffes was sufficient warning for the rest of the herd,
who immediately filed up from the lower ground, and
joined their comrades. All now halted, and gazed stead-
fastly in our direction, forming a superb tableau; their
beautiful mottled skins glancing like the summer coat of
a thoroughbred horse, the orange-colored statues standing
out in high relief from a background of dark-green mimosas.
"This beautiful picture soon changed. I knew that my
chance of a close shot was hopeless, as they would pre-
sently make a rush, and be off; thus I determined to get
the first start. I had previously studied the ground, and I
concluded that they would push forward at right angles
with my position, as they had thus ascended the hill, and
that, on reaching the higher ground, they would turn to
the right, in order to reach an immense tract of high grass,
as level as a billiard-table, from which no danger could
approach them unobserved.
"I accordingly with a gentle movement of my hand
directed my people to follow me, and I made a sudden rush
forward at full speed. Off went the herd ; shambling along
at a tremendous pace, whisking their long tails above their
hind quarters, and taking exactly the direction I had anti-
cipated, they offered me a shoulder shot at a little within
two hundred yards' distance. Unfortunately, I fell into a
deep hole concealed by the high grass, and by the time that
I resumed the hunt they had increased their distance, but
I observed the leader turned sharp to the right, through
some low mimosa bush, to make direct for the open table-
land. I made a short cut obliquely at my best speed, and
only halted when I saw that I should lose ground by alter-
ing my position. Stopping short, I was exactly opposite
12 Field Museum of Natural History
the herd as they filed by me at right angles in full speed,
within about a hundred and eighty yards. I had my old
Ceylon No. 10 double rifle, and I took a steady shot at a
large dark-colored bull: the satisfactory sound of the ball
upon his hide was followed almost immediately by his
blundering forward for about twenty yards, and falling
heavily in the low bush. I heard the crack of the ball of my
left-hand barrel upon another fine beast, but no effect fol-
lowed. Bacheet quickly gave me the single 2-ounce
Manton rifle, and I singled out a fine dark-colored bull, who
fell upon his knees to the shot, but recovering, hobbled off
disabled, apart from the herd, with a foreleg broken just
below the shoulder. Reloading immediately, I ran up to
the spot, where I found my first giraffe lying dead, with
the ball clean through both shoulders: the second was stand-
ing about one hundred paces distant; upon my approach
he attempted to move, but immediately fell, and was dis-
patched by my eager Arabs. I followed the herd for about
a mile to no purpose, through deep clammy ground and
high grass, and I returned to our game.
"These were my first giraffes, and I admired them as
they lay before me with a hunter's pride and satisfaction, but
mingled with a feeling of pity for such beautiful and utterly
helpless creatures. The giraffe, although from sixteen to
twenty feet in height, is perfectly defenceless, and can
only trust to the swiftness of its pace, and the extraordi-
nary power of vision, for its means of protection. The eye
of this animal is the most beautiful exaggeration of that
of the gazelle, while the color of the reddish-orange hide,
mottled with darker spots, changes the tints of the skin
with the differing rays of light, according to the muscular
movement of the body. No one who has merely seen the
giraffe in a cold climate can form the least idea of its
beauty in its native land."
K. Moebius, author of a work on the esthetics of the
animal kingdom (Aesthetik der Tierwelt, 1908), maintains
that the giraffe is regarded as ugly by the majority of
Giraffes 18
people on account of its disproportionate members, but
concedes that it makes a deep esthetic impression when it
lifts its long neck straight above its massive chest, calmly
looking downward or gazing into the distance with its
large, black, long-lashed eyes; its form and color, in his
estimation, are well adapted to the character of its habitat,
yet it conveys to most people the impression of an ugly
animal; in his opinion, it is an evident example of the fact
that suitable organization does not render animals beauti-
ful, but that besides it they must have other qualities to be
pleasing. Aside from the fact that there is nothing ugly in
nature and that "foul and fair" are relative notions much
depending on our moods and point of view, the giraffe can-
not be judged from menagerie specimens to which the im-
pressions of most of us are confined. The free denizen of
the wide, open arid plains of Africa will naturally forfeit its
best qualities in the narrow enclosures of our animal prison
camps. The giraffe must be observed in the freedom of its
native haunts. Sir Samuel W. Baker writes, "No one who
has merely seen the giraffe in a cold climate can form the
least idea of its beauty in its native land."
"The spectacle of a troop of wild giraffe," Bryden
writes, "is certainly one of the most wonderful things in
nature. The uncommon shape, the great height, the long,
slouching stride, the slender necks, reaching hither and
thither among the spreading leafage of the camel-thorn
trees, the rich coloring of the animal — all these things com-
bine to render the first meeting with the giraffe in their
native haunts one of the most striking and memorable of
experiences." He further characterizes them as strangely
beautiful, grotesquely graceful creatures and withal so
harmless. Marco Polo, who was a keen observer and pos-
sessed of sound judgement in most matters, calls them
"beautiful creatures to look at," and I think he is right.
In perusing the historical sketches to follow the reader
should bear in mind that all early descriptions and il-
lustrations of the giraffe (with the sole exception of the
14 Field Museum of Natural History
Nubian and Bushmen petroglyphs in Figs. 5 and 10) are
based on observation of more or less tame animals who were
taken while young and reared in captivity. The study of
the wild giraffe in its natural surroundings is of compara-
tively recent date and due to the vast progress of zoological
science and animal photography. We must remain con-
scious of this distinction between the past and the present,
for it has been observed that giraffes in the wild state are
in many respects superior, much deeper and richer in color-
ing than those in captivity, are better nourished, stronger
and considerably heavier than those bred in confinement;
and Bryden is even inclined to think that there is a greater
difference between wild and captive examples of giraffes
than in any other animals.
It is not without interest to pass in review the role
which so curious a creature has played in its relation to
mankind, to record the impressions which it has left on
past generations, and to study the question as to how the
artists of all ages acquitted themselves of the task to render
it justice in portraiture. The Bushmen and the ancient
Egyptians, the Persians as well as the Chinese, the ancient
Romans as well as the Italian painters of the Renaissance
and other European artists furnish interesting contribu-
tions to this question, and it has seemed to me worth while
to place their work here on record. Ever since in 1908 I
obtained in China the Chinese painting of a giraffe, my
interest in this subject has been aroused, and it was a
pleasant, though not always easy task embodying a great
deal of intense research to trace the vicissitudes of the
giraffe through all lands and ages down to modern
times. This essay is an attempt at a biography and icono-
graphy of the giraffe and endeavors to assemble all impor-
tant historical data that have become known in whatever
countries it made its appearance.
THE GIRAFFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT
The giraffe is one of the animals which appears to
have been known to the Egyptians from times of earliest
antiquity. A pictographic sign for the animal appears in
hieroglyphic writing (see Fig. 9 on right side), and is parti-
cularly employed to denote the verb "to dispose, to
arrange." The old word for the giraffe is sr (the vowels of
Egyptian are unknown) which Brugsch connects with a
Hebrew root and explains from the constantly swinging
motion of the animal's body when at rest. It seems more
likely that this word bears some relation to Ethiopic zarat
(compare Arabic zarafa), or may even be derived from the
latter. The later Egyptian term for the giraffe is mmy.
While there is apparently no written account of the gi-
raffe preserved, presumably because it did not rank among
sacred animals, we receive from the monuments of Egypt
and Nubia the earliest sculptured and pictorial representa-
tions of giraffes which belong to the best known in the
history of art. Moreover, the Egyptians show us also how
the interesting figure of the giraffe may be utilized for the
purposes of decorative art.
In the earliest prehistoric period of Egyptian civiliza-
tion, animal life was much more plentiful in the unsubdued
jungles of Egypt than in later times and at present. The
great quantity of ivory employed by the people and the
representations upon their pottery show that the elephant
was still living in their midst; likewise the giraffe, the hip-
popotamus, and the strange okapi, which was deified as
the god Set, wandered through the jungles, though all these
animals were extinct in the historical period (Breasted,
History of Egypt, p. 30). The animal represented by Set
is identified by Schweinfurth with the African ant-bear
(Orycteropus aethiopicus) .
In this primitive epoch giraffes were used as a deco-
rative motives on various objects. Giraffes are possibly
15
16
Field Museum of Natural History
intended in the handles of ivory combs (Fig. 2) ; there are
other such combs surmounted by figures of antelopes. A
giraffe is clearly outlined on the surface of a painted vase
(Fig. 3), and possibly also appears as a mark on pottery
(Capart, Primitive Art in Egypt, p. 140).
Fig. 2.
Ivory Combs with Figures of Giraffes. Ancient Egypt.
After Capart.
Fig. 4 represents an archaic slate palette carved in re-
lief, from Hieraconpolis, showing the trunk of a palm-tree
in the middle and two giraffes standing one on each side of
it, apparently browsing. F. Legge, who published a similar
slate only the lower part of which is preserved, showing the
body and legs of two giraffes (Proceedings Society of Bibli-
cal Archaeology, 1900, Plate VI), concludes that the scene
depicted is taking place in Upper Egypt or rather in the
Sudan, the giraffe not being found above the fifteenth de-
LEAFLET 27.
PLATE II.
PERSIAN PAINTING OF A GIRAFFE (p. 38).
From a Persian Bestiary of the Thirteenth Century in the Pierpont Morgan
Library, New York-
The Giraffe in Ancient Egypt
17
gree of latitude. The four dogs around the plaque are
defined by B6n6dite as Molossian hounds.
On an expedition to Lower Nubia in 1906 Professor
Breasted heard a report current among the natives that
there is an unknown temple far out in the desert behind Abu
Simbel. Various explorers had examined the neighboring
Fig. 8.
Vase with Painting of Giraffe. Ancient Egypt.
After Capart.
desert in the hope of finding it, but were unsuccessful. Ac-
companied by a native who assured him that he had
located this temple, Professor Breasted struck out into the
desert. After a two hours' journey his guide pointed to
what looked much like a distant building rising out of the
sand in the north. "As we drew near," he writes (Ameri-
18
Field Museum of Natural History
can Journal of Semitic Languages, 1906, p. 35), the sup-
posed building resolved itself into an isolated crag of rock
projecting from the sand, and pierced by two openings
Fig. 4.
Two Giraffes Facing a Palm-tree on a Slate Palette. Ancient Egypt.
After Capart.
which passed completely through it, so that the desert
hills on the far horizon were clearly visible through them.
The Giraffe in Ancient Egypt
19
One of these openings very much resembles a door, and, to
complete the delusion, it bears on one side a number of
prehistoric drawings — two boats, two giraffes, two os-
triches, and a number of smaller animals — which might be
easily mistaken by a native for hieroglyphic writing. There
can be no doubt that this curious natural formation and
the archaic drawings upon it are the source of the fabled
temple in the desert behind Abu Simbel."
Professor Breasted very kindly placed at my disposal
two photographs of these rock-carvings taken by him, from
Fig. 6.
Prehistoric Rock-carvings of Giraffes. Lower Nubia.
From photographs by Professor Breasted.
which the giraffes in Fig. 5 have been drawn. These, in all
probability, are the oldest representations of giraffes in the
world, and by their clever obversation of motion also rank
among the best ever made. They are the spontaneous pro-
ductions of a primitive artist with a keen eye for observa-
tion and possessed of great power of expression.
Under the fifth dynasty (2750-2625 B. C.) Sahure con-
tinued the development of Egypt as the earliest known
naval power in history. He dispatched a fleet on a voyage
20
Field Museum of Natural History
to Punt, as the Egyptians called the Somali coast at the
south end of the Red Sea, and along the south side of the
Gulf of Aden. From that region, which, like the whole
east, he termed the God's Land, he obtained the fragrant
gums and resins so much desired for incense and ointments.
One of the most important events of the reign of
Queen Hatshepsut (eighteenth dynasty, about 1501-1480
B. C.) was a naval expedition to the land of Punt with the
object to establish commercial relations with peoples of
Fig. 6.
Giraffe from a Punt Scene at Der el-Bahri.
From a photograph.
what is now the Somali coast. A sculptured record of this
peaceful expedition is preserved on the southern half of the
wall stretching behind the middle colonnade of her temple
at Der el-Bahri situated on the west side of the river at
Thebes. In this procession the giraffe is well represented
(Fig. 6), unfortunately mutilated; but even without its
head it is a magnificent work of art, body and legs being
exceedingly well modeled. According to E. Naville (The
Temple of Deir El Bahari, p. 21. Egypt Exploration Fund,
The Giraffe in Ancient Egypt
21
XII, 1894), the giraffe is said to come from the country
Khenthennofer, not from the coast. This region is gener-
ally distinguished from Punt; the two countries, however,
were contiguous, but of somewhat wide and indefinite ex-
tent, Punt possessing a coast where vessels could land,
while Khenthennofer was located in the mountainous in-
terior. The two countries had a mixed population which
included Negroes, and their products were almost identical.
Ivory, live panthers, panther-skins, monkeys, gold, ebony,
Fig. 7.
Giraffe from the Presentation of Tribute to Tutenkhamon.
After Nina de Garis Daviea.
and antimony were common to both. All these products
being typically African, it is evident that Queen Hatshep-
sut's expedition had been directed to the east coast of
Africa. Wealthy Egyptians were fond of keeping live speci-
mens of the fauna of Punt like dogs, monkeys, panthers,
leopards, and giraffes.
The illustration in Fig 7, showing a walking giraffe
guided by a Nubian, forms part of the Presentation of
Tribute to Tutenkhamon, depicted on the walls of the
tomb of Huy, viceroy of Nubia under the reign of Tuten-
khamon (compare Nina de Garis Davies and A. H. Gardi-
22
Field Museum of Natural History
ner, The Tomb of Huy, in The Theban Tombs Series,
London, 1926). This tomb is situated high up on the east-
ern slope of the hill known as Kurnet Murrai which rises
from the plain at a little distance north of Medinet Habu.
On the west wall of the tomb are depicted scenes of Huy
bringing the tribute of Nubia to the Pharaoh. Huy ap-
proaches the royal presence from the south, holding in his
..-**lJlV..Li*-
■ k.dl.4. _**_!'
Fig. 8.
Giraffes under Palm-trees from the Presentation of Tribute to Tutenkhamon.
After Nina de Garis Davie*.
left hand a crooked staff betokening his viceregal authority,
and with the right waving the ostrich-feather fan which
was his Derogative as "fan-bearer at the right of the king."
Tutenkhamon sits in state under his baldachin. Immedi-
ately behind the figure of Huy are shown choice samples of
Nubian tribute. Gold in rings and "gold tied up" in bags
are there, together with dishes of carnelian or red jasper
The Giraffe in Ancient Egypt 23
and of a green mineral. There are tusks of white ivory and
jet-black logs of ebony. A model chariot of gold is sup-
ported by an attendant Negro, perhaps of ebony, on a gold
pedestal. Under the chariot appears to be a golden shrine.
Heraldically arranged palm-trees, with monkeys climbing
in their branches and giraffes nibbling at their leaves are
shown in another scene (Fig. 8), together with kneeling
Negroes in an attitude of adoration and with others hold-
ing cords attached to the necks of the giraffes. This scene
is remarkable for its grace and exquisite realism. There are
also Nubians carrying gold, skins, and giraffes' tails (the
latter being painted black). Giraffes' tails are highly
prized from Kordofan to Uganda (see above, p. 6 and
below, p. 87). In an Egyptian story they figure among the
presents given to a ship-wrecked sailor by his kindly host,
the giant serpent.
The walking giraffe amid the tribute-bearers (Fig. 7)
is a very young bull of the Nubian variety. It is light pink-
ish brown in color, with a few markings on the neck. The
immaturity of the animal is denoted by the very slight
development of the median horn.
The temples of Nubia contain many references to the
Nubian wars of Ramses II (1292-25 B. C). Among the
scenes cut on the rock side-walls of the excavated forecourt
of the Bet el-Walli temple there is one portraying Ramses
enthroned on the right; approaching from the left are two
longlinesof Negroes, bringing furniture of ebony and ivory,
panther-hides, gold in large rings, bows, myrrh, shields,
elephants' tusks, billets of ebony, ostrich feathers, ostrich
eggs, live animals including monkeys, panthers, a giraffe,
ibexes, a dog, oxen with curved horns, and an ostrich
(Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, Vol. Ill, p. 203).
The giraffe in this rock-carving is of naturalistic style, but
is not quite so accurate and true to nature as in other
Egyptian monuments. It is reproduced by Professor
Breasted in American Journal of Semitic Languages
(Vol. XXIII, 1906, p. 62).
24
Field Museum op Natural History
Fig. 9, illustrating a giraffe with a monkey on its back,
is from the tomb of Amunezeh (eighteenth dynasty) at
Shekh Abd el-Gurna (compare Max W. Muller, Egypto-
logical Researches, Vol. II, Carnegie Institution of Wash-
ington, 1910, p. 52 and colored reproductions in Plate 31).
This is also from a series of wall-paintings representing
Fig. 9.
Giraffe with Baboon from the Tomb of Amunezeh.
After W. Max MUtler.
tributes of the Nubians. The color of the animal is almost
brown dotted with black spots. The hoofs are blue (in-
tended for black). The monkey, probably a baboon, is
green-blue with a red face and exaggerated long tail. The
uplifted hand of the leader must have held a rope tied to
the baboon, and he guides the giraffe by a rope fastened
The Giraffe in Ancient Egypt 25
to its right fore leg. To the right of the animal the hiero-
glyph for the giraffe is added.
Two small green-glazed figurines of the Saitic or Ptole-
maic epoch have been published and described by G.
Daressy (Deux figurations de giraffe, Annales du Service
des Antiquity de l'Egypte, Cairo, Vol. VII, 1906, pp. GI-
GS, 2 figs.). These represent figures of a headless man with
what is explained as a giraffe crouching beside him. It is
difficult, however, to recognize giraffes in these animals, as
far as the illustrations published in the article are con-
cerned. Crouching giraffes are not known from Egyptian
monuments, and no clay figures of giraffes have become
known from the Ptolemaic and Graeco-Roman periods.
Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-247 B.C.) showed a live
giraffe to the inhabitants of Alexandria in his triumphal
procession through this city. In all periods of history
Egypt continued to be the great distributing centre for
giraffes, as will be seen in the chapters to follow. It sup-
plied them to the Romans, the emperors of Byzance, the
Arab Caliphs, to Spain and Italy in the middle ages, and
to Italy, France, and England in more recent times.
REPRESENTATIONS OF THE GIRAFFE IN
AFRICA OUTSIDE OF EGYPT
We made the acquaintance of the Bushmen as ostrich -
hunters and artists depicting the ostrich (Leaflet 23).
They were no less successful in producing rapid and vivid
outline sketches of giraffes. At the time of the great
artistic development of the Bushmen the whole fauna of
South Africa was immensely rich and abounded in animals
now extinct, like the oryx which frequented the plains of
the Zwart Kei, the giraffe which abounded in the forests of
Transval, buffalo, elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus,
zebra, quagga, gnu, antelopes, and ostrich.
Fig. 10 represents a running giraffe cut in sandstone
by the Bushmen in the Orange River Colony. G. W. Stow
(Native Races of South Africa) mentions after Barrow a
Bushman cave-drawing of a giraffe and writes that he
found himself several drawings of it in the Zwart Kei and
Tsomo caves, also in the Wittebergen of the Orange Free
State. This, according to Stow, indubitably proves that the
giraffe was found in the early days over a far wider area
of country than at present. Stow also refers to a number
of chippings, chiefly representations of animals at Pniel,
among these the head and neck of a giraffe which is said to
be remarkably fine, both on account of its large size and
the correctness of its outline.
G. M. Theal holds that no giraffes have ever been
seen by Europeans south of the Orange River, but that as
profiles of them are found in Bushman paintings along the
Zwart Kei and Tsomo Rivers, it is believed that they must
once have existed there. It may be the case, however, that
in their artistic efforts the Bus men did not confine them-
selves to the animals of their habitat, but may also have
illustrated animals they encountered during their rovings
over the country.
26
The Giraffe in Africa
27
28
Field Museum of Natural History
04
•a
So .
I S 2
a I t
*11
I -a I
° e B
5 !
The Giraffe in Africa
29
In the folk-lore of the Hottentot the giraffe plays a
prominent role.
A wall-painting from a council-room in the royal "pal-
ace" at Gaviro, Ubena, in Southeast Africa, shows three
giraffes in company with two zebras (Fig. 11). While some-
what stiff and rather inexact in the shape of the body and
legs, the movement and action of the animals are well ob-
served, especially in the first, that bends its neck down-
ward and touches one of the zebras, and in the third of
which only the front part is represented.
Fig. 12.
Rock-engraving of Giraffe. Tuareg, Sahara.
After E. F. Gautier.
Fig. 12 illustrates a giraffe engraved in a rock in the
Tuareg country in the Sahara. This station of rock-carv-
ings among which camels, hunters on camel-back, and
many other animals are found, was discovered by E. F.
Gautier in 1903 (described by him in U Anthropologic,
1904, p. 497). In his opinion, this picture bears all char-
acteristics of a very great antiquity. The lines are deeply
and profoundly cut. It is curious to find a representation
of the giraffe in the desert area, where it has never occurred.
30 Field Museum op Natural Histoey
According to Gautier, the giraffe is theonly animal in the
art of Tuareg that does not belong to the fauna of the
region, while all other animals do. This problem is not
hard to solve, however. Considering the fact that live
giraffes were traded by the Arabs to Mediterranean and
Asiatic countries and that the commerce in giraffes goes
back to the early relations between Egypt and Punt,
giraffes could have been brought to Tuareg as well.
THE GIRAFFE AMONG ARABS AND PERSIANS
The giraffe was not known to the Hebrews at the
time of Moses, as was formerly believed. This opinion
was suggested by the Hebrew word zamar or zemer, which
occurs in Deuteronomy (XIV, 5), and solely in this pass-
age as one of the animals whose flesh was sanctioned by the
Mosaic legislation. In the Seventy this Hebrew animal
name has been translated into Greek as kamelopardalis,
and the Vulgate gives camelopardalus as the corresponding
Latin translation. Edward Topsell, author of "The His-
orie of Four-footed Beastes" (1607), writes that the "flesh
of the giraffe is good for meat, and was allowed to the Jews
by God himselfe for a cleane beast." J. Ogilby, in his work
"Africa" (1607), commits a curious error by writing with
reference to the giraffe, "Caesar first shewed him at Rome,
though 'tis probable they formerly abounded in Judea,
being a food prohibited to the Jews." There is no evidence
whatever to the effect that the giraffe ever occurred in Pal-
estine or anywhere in western Asia during historical times,
nor is it safe to assume with Joly and Lavocat that Moses
might have been acquainted with the animal from pictures
on Egyptian monuments. A legislator permits or prohibits
an animal known to his nation from real life, but hardly
one merely known pictorially. Bochart, in his erudite folio
on the animals of the Bible (Hierozoicon), has arrived at
the conclusion that the ancient Hebrews were not ac-
quainted with the giraffe, and explains zamar as a species of
antelope, probably the chamois (Antilope rupicapra).
"Chamois" was adopted by the English Version as render-
ing of zamar, but this, in all probability, is not correct
either, for the chamois does not occur in Palestine. The
general consensus of opinion now is that the "camelopar-
dalis" of the Seventy rests on a mistranslation and that the
animal intended by the Hebrew word is the wild goat or
mountain sheep with curved horns. Professor J. M. Powis
31
32 Field Museum op Natural History
Smith of the University of Chicago informs me, "The best
rendering of zamar is 'mountain sheep.' The Seventy
rendering, I take it, is a mere guess and a wild one at
that. The word was probably unknown, and they took a
free shot at it."
The Arabs made the acquaintance of the giraffe in
Abyssinia at a comparatively late period. Their name for
the animal, zarafa or zurafa, is supposed to be derived from
Ethiopic zarat. In early Arabic poetry the animal is not
mentioned, as it never occurred in Arabia. *
Masudi, an eminent Arabic traveller and historian,
who died in A.D. 956 or 957, writes that the giraffe generally
lives in Nubia, but is not found in Abyssinia; there is no
agreement as to the origin of the animal; some regard it as
a variety of the camel, others assert that it has sprung from
the union of the camel and the panther; others, again, hold
that it is a distinct species like the horse, the donkey, and
the ox, not, however, the product of a crossing like the mule.
He emphasizes the giraffe's gentleness and the affection
which it displays for the members of its family, and adds
that in this species, in the same manner as among ele-
phants, there are wild and tame individuals.
Ibn al-Faqih, an Arabic geographer from Hamadan
in Persia, who wrote about A.D. 1022, gives the following
account: —
"The giraffe lives in Nubia. It is said that it takes its
place between the panther and the camel mare, that the
panther mates with the latter who produces the giraffe.
There are cases analogous to this one: thus the horse pairs
with the ass, the wolf with the hyena, the panther with the
lioness from whom the pard issues. The giraffe has the
stature of the camel, the head of a stag, hoofs like those of
cattle, and a tail like a bird. Its fore legs (literally,
'hands') have two callosities, while these are lacking in its
hind legs. Its skin is panther-like and presents a marvel-
lous sight. In Persia the animal is called 'camel-bull- pan-
ther' (ushtur or shutur-gdw-palank), because it has some-
The Giraffe Among Arabs and Persians 83
thing in common with each of these three. Some scholars
assert that the giraffe is generated by stallions of various
kinds. This, however, is erroneous, for the horse does not
impregnate the camel nor does the camel the cow."
Zakariya al-Qazwini (1203-83), Arabic author of a cos-
mography and a work on historical geography, writes
in his description of Abyssinia thus: —
"The giraffe is produced by the camel mare, the male
hyena, and the wild cow. Its head is shaped like that of a
stag, its horns like that of cattle, its legs like those of a
nine year old camel, its hoofs like those of cattle, its tail
like that of a gazelle; its neck is very long, its hands are
long, and its feet are short. A scholar, Timat by name,
relates that in the southern equatorial region animals of
various kinds congregate during the summer around the
cisterns, being driven there by heat and thirst; if an animal
of a certain species covers one of another species, strange
animals like the giraffe are born: the male hyena mates
with the female Abyssinian camel; if the young one is a
male and covers the wild cow, it will produce a giraffe."
In another passage Qazwini informs us that the giraffe
has knees only in its fore legs, but no knees in its hind legs;
in walking it advances its left hind leg first and then its
right fore leg, contrary to the habit of all other quadrupeds
which advance the right fore leg first and then the left hind
leg. Among its natural qualities are affection and sociable-
ness. As Allah knew that it would derive its sustenance
from trees, He created its fore legs longer than its hind
ones, to enable it to graze on them easily."
This theory of a mongrel origin of a giraffe was merely
a popular belief suggested by the peculiar characteristics
of the animal, but was not accepted by those who were
able to think. An interesting instance to this effect is cited
by Damiri (1344-1405) in his Zoological Dictionary (Hayat
al-Hayawan, "Life of Animals"), who writes, "al-Jahiz is
not satisfied with this explanation and states that it is the
outcome of sheer ignorance and emanates only from people
34 Field Museum op Natural History
who lack the faculty of discrimination; for God creates
whatever He pleases. The giraffe, on the contrary, is a
distinct species of animal, independent (sui generis) like
the horse or the ass. This is proved by the fact that it is
able to produce one like itself, a fact which has been ascer-
tained by observation." Masudi, as mentioned, says also
that many regard the giraffe as a particular species, not
as the result of any cross-breed.
Dimashki, who wrote a Cosmography about A.D. 1325,
commits an odd error by localizing the giraffe in Ceylon
(Serendib), but gives a correct description of it. "It is an
animal of a remarkable shape," he writes, "it has a neck
like a camel, a skin like a leopard and stag, horns like an
antelope, teeth like a cow, a head like a camel, and a back
like a cock. Its fore legs, as well as its neck, are very long;
it measures ten ells and more in height. Its hind legs are very
short and without articulation. Only its front legs have
knees as among other animals, because the neck is too
short in proportion with its fore legs when it grazes on the
ground. In walking it sets its right foot ahead and its left
foot behind, in distinction from other quadrupeds. It has
a gentle disposition, and is sociable toward its companions.
It belongs to the ruminants, and its ordure is like that of
camels."
Makrizi (1365-1442), in his History of the Mamluk
Sultans of Egypt, reports that in the year 1292 a female
giraffe in the Castle of the Hill (at Cairo) gave birth to a
young one, which was nursed by a cow. This was regarded
as an auspicious event which is recorded by three other
Arab chroniclers.
The Arabs, like most Oriental nations, paid much at-
tention to dreams, and developed a pseudo-science of divi-
nation based on dreams. Thus the appearance of a giraffe
in a dream is interpreted by Damiri as follows: "A giraffe
seen in a dream indicates a financial calamity. Sometimes
it signifies a respectable or a beautiful woman, or the receipt
of strange news to come from the direction from which the
LEAFLET 27.
PLATE III.
CHINESE PAINTING OF A GIRAFFE OF THE YEAR 1485 (p. 47).
In Collections of Field Museum. Blackstone Expedition to China, 1908.
The Giraffe Among Arabs and Persians 35
animal is seen. There is, however, no good in the news.
When a giraffe appears in a dream to enter a country or
town, no gain is to be obtained from it, for it augurs a
calamity to your property; there is no guaranty for the
safety of a friend, a spouse, or a wife whom you may want
to take through your homestead. A giraffe in a dream may
sometimes be interpreted to mean a wife who is not faithful
to her husband, because in the shape of its back it differs
from the riding-beasts."
The flesh of the giraffe is consumed by the Arab hunt-
ers of Abyssinia. The long tendons of the legs are highly
prized by the Arabs and used like thread for sewing leather,
also for guitar strings. The Arab tribes Fazoql and Ber-
tat make shields of giraffe-hide.
The Arabs were the most active dealers in giraffes and
traded the animals to the Mediterranean countries as well
as to Persia, India, and China. Masudi, in the tenth cen-
tury, informs us that giraffes were sent as presents from
Nubia to the kings of Persia, as in later days they were
offered to Arab princes, to the first Caliphs of the house of
Abbas and the governors of Egypt.
When Egypt was a province of the Caliphate (A.D.
641-868), Nubia was invaded by the Emir Abdallah Ibn
Sad, and a treaty was concluded in A.D. 652, compelling
the Nubians to pay an annual tribute consisting of four
hundred slaves, a number of camels, two elephants, and
two giraffes. During the reign of the Caliph al-Mahdi (A.D.
775-785) it was ordered again that Nubia be held respon-
sible every year for three hundred and sixty slaves and
one giraffe. This tribute was paid for two centuries when
it was repudiated in A.D. 854, but this revolt was soon
crushed. In 1275, under the rule of the Mamluks, the
Sudan was annexed by Egypt, and three giraffes, three
elephants, panthers, dromedaries, and oxen were stipu-
lated among the annual tribute.
El-Aziz (A.D. 975-996), a Caliph of the Fatimid empire
of Egypt, a bold hunter and a fearless general, was fond of
36 Field Museum of Natural History
rare animals, and had many strange animals and birds
brought to Cairo. Female elephants, which the Nubians
had carefully reserved, were at length introduced for breed-
ing under jjis reign, and a stuffed rhinoceros delighted the
crowd. On the occasion of a solemn festival celebrated by
the Caliph in A.D. 990, elephants and a giraffe were con-
ducted in front of him, and several giraffes marched before
the Caliph on other occasions. Gold vases with figures of
giraffes, elephants, and other animals were made for him,
also gold statuettes of giraffes and elephants.
Beybars (1260-77), the real founder of the Mamluk
empire in Egypt, a native of Kipchak (between the Cas-
pian and the Ural Mountains) and possessor of untold
wealth, sent in 1262 giraffes, together with Arab horses,
dromedaries, mules, wild asses, apes, parrots, and many
other gifts to his ally, the Khan of the Golden Horde.
Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo, a Spanish knight, who went
as ambassador to the court of Timur at Samarkand in the
years 1403-06, tells the following interesting story: —
When the ambassadors arrived in the city of Khoi [in
the province of Azerbeijan, Persia], they found in it an
ambassador, whom the Sultan of Babylon had sent to
Timur Beg; who had with him as many as twenty horses
and fifteen camels, laden with presents, which the Sultan
of Babylon [probably an ambassador from Cairo] sent to
Timur Beg. He also had six rare birds, and a beast called
jornufa (giraffe), which creature is made with the body as
large as that of a horse, a very long neck, and the fore legs
much longer than the hind ones. Its hoofs are like those
of a bullock. From the nail of the hoof to the shoulder it
measured sixteen palmos; and when it wished to stretch
its neck, it raised it so high that it was wonderful; and its
neck was slender, like that of a stag. The hind legs were
so short, in comparison with the fore legs, that a man who
had never seen it before, might well believe that it was
seated, although it was standing up; and the buttocks were
worn, like those of a buffalo. The belly was white, and the
The Giraffe Among Arabs and Persians 37
body was of a golden color, surrounded by large white
rings. The face was like that of a stag, and on the forehead
it had a large projection, the eyes were large and round,
and the ears like those of a horse. Near the ears it had two
small round horns, covered with hair, which looked like
those of a very young stag. The neck was long, and
could be raised so high, that it could reach up to eat from
the top of a very high wall; and it could reach up to eat
the leaves from the top of a very lofty tree, which it did
plenteously. To a man who had never seen such an animal
before, it was a wonderful sight."
The giraffe which Clavijo observed and described had
been sent to Timur in the year 1402 soon after the battle
of Angora by the Mamluk Sultan Faraj of Egypt, who
dispatched two ambassadors to his court with rich pre-
sents, among these a giraffe.
In the History of Timur Begh or Tamerlan written in
Persian by Sherefeddin Ali of Yezd in the fifteenth century
the presentation of a giraffe is mentioned. When Timur
in 1414 celebrated the marriage of his grandchildren, an
envoy from the sovereign of Egypt arrived, and had an
audience with the emperor, bringing presents of minted sil-
ver, precious stones, sumptuous textiles, and among other
curiosities a giraffe, which the Persian chronicler writes is
one of the rarest animals of the earth, and nine ostriches,
of the largest of Africa.
Josafa Barbaro and Ambrogio Contarini, Venetian
travellers, saw in 1471 a live giraffe at the court of Persia,
and describe it in the old English translation of W. Thomas
as follows: "After this was brought forth a Giraffa, which
they called Girnaffa [the Italian original in Ramusio has:
Zirapha which they also call Zirnapha or Giraffa}, a beast
as long legged as a great horse, or rather more; but the
hinder legs are half a foot shorter than the former, and is
cloven footed as an ox, in maner of a violet color mingled
all over with black spots, great and small according to their
places: the belly white somewhat long haired, thin haired
38 Field Museum op Natural History
on the tail as an ass, little horns like a goat, and the neck
more than a pace long: the tongue a yard long, violet and
round as an eele, with the which he grazeth or eateth the
leaves from the trees so swiftly that it is scarcely to be per-
ceived. He is headed like a hart, but more finely, with
the which standing on the ground he will reach fifteen
foot high. His breast is broader than the horse, but the
croup narrow like an ass; he seemeth to be a marvellous
fair beast, but not like to bear any burden."
The name surnapa or zurndpa for the giraffe is
regarded as peculiar to Persian, but it was heard and re-
corded by P. Belon at Cairo toward the middle of the
sixteenth century and a little later by Moryson at Con-
stantinople (cf . pp. 67, 84) . This goes to show that the word
surnapa was also employed in the colloquial Osmanli and
Arabic of the sixteenth century. Yule regards it as a form
curiously divergent of zardfa, perhaps nearer the original.
A popular Persian etymology analyzes the word into zurnd
("hautboy") and pa ("foot"), in allusion to the long and
thin legs of the giraffe ("having legs shaped like an haut-
boy"),— assuredly a far-fetched and artificial explanation.
Possibly this form may have originated in Ethiopia, pre-
senting a compound of zur and Ethiopic nabun pointed out
by Pliny. Bochart derives this nabun from naba ("to be
elevated").
A very curious picture of a giraffe by a Persian artist
is reproduced in Plate II. It is contained in the Manafi-i-
Hayawan ("Description of Animals"), an illustrated Per-
sian bestiary of eighty-five folios, completed between the
years A.D. 1295 and 1300 and now preserved in the
Pierpont Morgan Library of New York. I am under obli-
gation to Miss Belle Da Costa Greene, director of the
library, for kindly placing a photograph of the giraffe pic-
ture at my disposal. A brief description of this beautiful
manuscript has been given by C. Anet (Burlington Maga-
zine, 1913, pp. 224, 261) with reproductions of some fine
selected specimens of the illustrations, but not of the gi-
The Giraffe Among Arabs and Persians 39
raffe which is reproduced here for the first time. The text
is a Persian translation of an earlier Arabic manuscript
made at the command of Ghazan Khan, a descendant of
the Mongol rulers of Persia. In the opinion of C. Anet, the
animals of this Persian album are of the highest order, con-
vey an idea of what may be called the primitive period of
Persian painting, and show a magnificent originality and a
force in style and drawing.
The interesting feature of the Persian painting is that
it represents not merely a giraffe in general, but apparently
depicts a now well-known particular species, the so-called
reticulated giraffe (Fig. 1 on p. 4), which inhabits the So-
mali country and is chestnut-colored, covered with a net-
work of white lines. The net-work is treated as more or less
regular hexagons, but the artist has reproduced the appear-
ance of the characteristic markings of this species quite
correctly, as comparison with Fig. 1 will show. Head, neck
and body are correctly outlined in general; only the joint-
less fore legs are stiff. A collar with eight small bells is
hung around the animal's neck. Each of its feet appears
to be manacled to impede its free motion. It is placed in a
surrounding of graceful shrubbery tenanted by three birds.
The leaves reach the animal's head, and in this manner the
artist has apparently intended to convey a good idea of its
extraordinary height.
The picture is accompanied by the following text in
Persian which translated is as follows: "This animal is
called shutur-gaw-palank [see above, p. 32], for the reason
that every part or member of it exhibits similarity to a
corresponding part of one of these three animals. Its hands
(fore legs) and neck are like those of a camel, its skin is like
that of a leopard, its teeth and hoofs are like those of an ox.
It has long hands (fore legs) and short feet (hind legs).
Only its hind legs are provided with knees, not its fore legs.
Its head and tail are like those of a deer. Its young ones
are said to start eating grass when they put their heads out
of their mother's womb. They eat grass until satisfied.
40 Field Museum of Natural History
Then the young ones return into their habitation (the
womb). When they are severed from the mother, they will
run away immediately, for the mother has a rough and
flying tongue. When she licks the young one, its flesh and
skin will come off, so that it will not approach the mother
for three or four days." The statement in regard to the
hind legs having knees is a curious inversion of what the
Arabs say (above, p. 33).
Colonel Roosevelt (Life-histories of African Game Ani-
mals) describes the reticulated giraffe as follows: "The
reticulated giraffe is marked on the neck by distinct reticu-
lations, formed by the large rufous squares being set off
sharply by narrow lines of white ground-color. This color
pattern is so distinctive from the usual blotched coloration
of other giraffes that the race has been considered a dis-
tinct species by many naturalists. Some specimens of the
Uganda giraffe, however, show as narrow reticulations, but
the ground-color is seldom so whitish in appearance. The
horns of the bull are well developed, the frontal horn being
especially large, and is exceeded in height only by the
Uganda race. The body is marked by large squares of ru-
fous separated by ochraceous reticulations, and differs de-
cidely from the small size and broken-edged spots of the
Masai giraffe. The legs from the knees and hocks down-
ward nearly as far as the fetlocks are reticulated by buffy-
whitish ground-color and tawny blotches. One of the dis-
tinctive color marks of this race is the carrying forward of
the reticulated pattern of the neck over the cheeks and the
upper throat to the chin. The mandible shows distinctive
characters, being low at the condyles, and having short
coronoid processes. The frontal horn is remarkably robust
and of great circumference, and is scarcely less in height
than in the Uganda race; but the skull itself at this point
is much less in height."
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THE GIRAFFE IN CHINESE RECORDS AND ART
The giraffe was not known to the ancient Chinese,
contrary to what is assumed by certain sinologues. This
erroneous conclusion is based on the fact that when live
giraffes were first transported into China in the fifteenth
century under the Ming dynasty, they were taken by the
Chinese for the Kilin (k'i-liri), a fabulous creature of an-
cient mythology, and by way of reminiscence and poetic
retrospection received the name k'i-lin. This, of course,
does not mean that the ancient native conception of the
Kilin was based on the giraffe, which in historical times
was confined to Africa. In fact, neither the description nor
the illustrations of the Kilin bear the slightest resemblance
to a giraffe. The Kilin is said to have the body of a deer,
the tail of an ox, a single horn, and to be covered with
fish-scales. Its horn is covered with flesh, indicating that
while able for war, it covets peace. It does not tread on
any living thing, not even on living grass. It symbolizes
gentleness, goodness, and benevolence. It is said to have
appeared just previous to the death of Confucius, and it
will appear whenever a benevolent sovereign rules; it was
a mythical animal of good omen. The Kilin has a horn
with a fleshy basis or fleshy horns, while the giraffe has two
bony excrescences on its head which merely resemble horns,
but are not. De Groot (see note on p. 96) insists on the
good and gentle disposition being ascribed to either crea-
ture, but it is obvious that a zoological identification cannot
be based on alleged psychological traits; many deer, sheep,
and other animals may likewise be characterized in this
manner. It is singular that De Groot remained entirely
ignorant of the importations of giraffes into China and of
what Chinese authors know about the subject.
It is clear that the characteristic features of the giraffe
which impress every casual observer — the extraordinary
height, the long neck, the proportion of fore and hind legs —
41
42 Field Museum of Natural History
are not found in the Chinese descriptions of the Kilin and
that several traits of the latter do not agree with the giraffe.
Thus, the voice of the Kilin resembles the sound of a bell,
and it walks with regular steps. The giraffe, however, has
no voice at all. "It is an interesting fact that giraffes are
absolutely mute, and even in their death-agonies never
utter a sound" (Hutchinson's Animals of All Countries).
Says G. Renshaw, "Giraffes are well hnown to be silent
animals. I once heard the Southern giraffe still living in
the London Zoo give a kind of coughing sneeze — the only
recorded occasion, I believe, of these animals ever having
been known to make any noise at all! It was, however,
probably caused by some irritant in the nasal passage, and
cannot be called a vocal sound."
The only points of resemblance made by the Chinese
between the Kilin and the giraffe are their bodies being
shaped like a deer, their tails being like that of an ox, and
their gentle disposition. This identification, it should be
borne in mind, was established as recently as the fifteenth
century when the first live giraffes arrived in China.
The Su po wu chi, a book compiled by Li Shi about
the middle of the twelfth century, apparently contains one
of the earliest Chinese literary allusions to the giraffe.
"The country Po-pa-li [Berbera, on the Somali coast of the
Gulf of Aden] harbors a strange animal called camel-ox (t'o
niu). Its skin is like that of a leopard, its hoof is similar to
that of an ox, but the animal is devoid of a hump. Its
neck is nine feet long, and its body is over ten feet high."
The designation "camel-ox" corresponds exactly to a
Persian designation of the giraffe, ushtur-gaw (ushlur,
"camel" ; gaw, "ox, cow"), mentioned as early as the tenth
century by the Arabic writer Masudi. It may hence be
inferred that the information received in regard to the ani-
mal had come to China from Persia.
The second reference to the giraffe is made by Chao
Ju-kwa in his work Chufan chi, written in A.D. 1225. This
author was collector of customs in the port of Ts'uan-chou
The Giraffe in Chinese Records and Art 43
fu in the province of Fu-kien, where he came in close con-
tact with Arabian merchants and representatives of other
foreign nations who then entertained a lucrative commerce
with China. From oral information given him by foreign
traders and from earlier Chinese sources he compiled his
brief book. In his notes on the Berbera or Somali coast of
East Africa he mentions as a native of that country "a
wild animal called tsu-la, which resembles a camel in shape,
an ox in size, and is yellow of color. Its fore legs are five
feet long, while its hind feet are only three feet in length.
Its head is high and looks upward. Its skin is an inch
thick." The word tsu-la used in the Chinese text is not
Chinese, but is of Arabic origin; it is intended to reproduce
zurdfa, the Arabic term for the giraffe.
African animals were transported to China as early
as the thirteenth century under the Yuan or Mongol dy-
nasty. We are informed, for instance, in the Annals of
this dynasty that in the year 1287 an envoy from Mabar
(Malabar, on the south-west coast of India) presented the
emporer with "a strange animal resembling a mule, but
larger and covered with hair mottled black and white; it
was called a-t'a-pi." Judging from this name, the beast
appears to be identical with the topi, the Swahili name for
the Topi damaliscus {Damaliscus jimila), a kind of ante-
lope peculiar to East Africa, also called bastard hartebeest
(see, further, note on p. 96).
In A.D. 1289 the Chinese emperor was presented with
two zebras from Mabar, and in the following year another en-
voy arrived from the same country and offered two piebald
oxen, a buffalo, and a tiger-cat. The giraffe, as far as I
know, is not mentioned in the Yuan Annals, although there
is no reason why it should not have come along with topi
and zebra. Malabar, at that time, was in close commercial
relations with the ports of southern Arabia, and it was the
Arabs who brought these live animals from the Somali
coast to southern Arabia and thence transhipped them to
India.
44 Field Museum or Natural History
There are in the Chinese Annals several records of
giraffes being sent alive as gifts to the Chinese emperors
during the fifteenth century. In that period a new impetus
was given to the exploration of the countries of the Indian
Ocean through the exploits of Cheng Ho, eunuch and navi-
gator. In A.D. 1408 and 1412 he conducted, with a fleet of
sixty-two ships, naval expeditions to the realms of south-
eastern Asia, advancing as far as Ceylon, and inducing
many states to send envoys back with him to his native
country. In 1415 and again in 1421 he returned with the
foreign envoys to their countries in order to open trading
relations with them. In 1424 he was sent to Sumatra.
In 1425, as no envoys had come to Peking, he and his old
lieutenant, Wang King-hung, visited seventeen countries,
including Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. This was at a time
when no European sail had yet been sighted on the Indian
Ocean.
In A.D. 1414 (the twelfth year of the period Yung-lo,
under the emperor Ch'eng Tsu), Saifud-din, king of Ben-
gal, sent envoys to China with an offering of giraffes and
famous horses. The Board of Rites asked permission of
the emperor to present an address of congratulation. As
the giraffe was termed k'i-lin, and the fabulous k'i-lin of
antiquity was reputed to appear only at the time of a vir-
tuous ruler, the giraffe was obviously regarded as an auspi-
cious omen, and the proposed address of congratulation
was chiefly intended as a flattery to the sovereign, who had
sense enough to see through the game and denied the
request.
In A.D. 1415 the country Ma-lin (Malindi in British
East Africa) offered a giraffe to the emperor. On this oc-
casion the President of the Board of Rites, Lu Chen, made
a report to the throne, requesting that the officials should
offer congratulations to the emperor; the request, however,
was denied again.
In the year 1421 the chamberlain Chou travelled for
the purpose of purchasing giraffes, lions, and other rare
The Giraffe in Chinese Records and Art 45
animals, rather to satisfy his own vanity than to make a
contribution to knowledge.
In the year 1422 an imperial envoy, the eunuch Li,
was sent to Aden with a letter and presents to the king.
On his arrival he was honorably received, and on landing
was met by the king and conducted by him to his palace.
During the sojourn of the embassy, the people who had
rarities were permitted to offer them for sale. Cat's-eyes
of extraordinary size, rubies, and other precious stones,
large branches of coral, amber, and attar of roses were
among the articles purchased. Giraffes, lions, zebras, leo-
pards, ostriches, and white pigeons were also offered for
sale. An account of this expedition was written by Ma
Huan, a Chinese Mohammedan familiar with the Arabic
language. He was attached to the suite of Cheng Ho on
his cruise in the Indian Ocean, and published on his return
(between 1425 and 1432) an interesting geographical work
( Ying yai sheng Ian) in which the twenty countries visited
by the expedition are described. With reference to Aden
he remarks that the giraffe is found there; it was, of course,
not a native of Aden, either at that time or at present, but
was transported there by the Arabs from the east coast of
Africa. Ma Huan describes the animal "as having fore
legs nine feet high and hind legs about six feet; its head is
raised, and its neck is sixteen feet long [this, in fact, is the
total height of the animal from head to foot]; owing to its
fore quarters being high and its hind quarters low it cannot
be ridden; it has two short, fleshy horns close to its ears; its
tail is like that of a cow, and its body like that of a deer; its
hoof is divided into three sections; its mouth is wide and
flat, and it feeds on millet, beans, and flour cakes." The
last remark shows that the question is of giraffes kept in
captivity and receiving cereal food from the hands of men.
It appears that a regular trade was carried on by the Arabs
in these animals who aroused so much curiosity and that
Aden was the centre of this commercial activity.
46 Field Museum op Natural History
In the year 1430 Cheng Ho dispatched one of his com-
panions to Calicut in southern India. Having heard that a
trading vessel was to sail from that port to Arabia, he com-
manded this officer to embark and take Chinese goods as
presents for the native ruler along. The voyage lasted a
year. The Chinese envoy purchased there fine pearls,
precious stones, a giraffe (k'i-liri), a lion, and an ostrich.
In 1431 giraffes were sent as tribute by embassies from
"the countries of the Southern Sea."
Fei Sin, who in 1436 wrote the Sing ch'a sheng Ian, an
account of four voyages made in the Indian Ocean by
imperial envoys during the first quarter of the fifteenth
century, mentions giraffes under the name tsu-la-fa (Arabic
zurdfa) among the natural products of Arabia, particularly
of Zufar on the south coast of the peninsula. He observes
that "the ruler of the country and his ministers are very
grateful to the Heavenly Dynasty [that is, China], and
that their missions are constantly bringing presents of lions
and giraffes to offer as tribute."
A noteworthy point is that the giraffes were not sent
to China over the land route, as the ostriches, but were
conveyed in ships over the maritime route from Aden by
way of India. It is a pity that we have no detailed story
as to how the animals were transported, for their trans-
portation is a difficult problem even at the present time.
Giraffes are very nervous and hence very awkward animals
to transport, as they are liable to break their necks by sud-
denly twisting about in their travelling boxes. It is still
more deplorable that the Chinese have not preserved a
record of how the animals were cared for in their country,
how long they lived, etc.
From an account in the Wu tsa tsu, written in 1610, it
appears that under the reign of Ch'eng Tsu (1403-25) a
painter was directed to make a sketch of a Kilin which had
been captured; the artist's picture showed the animal's
body shaped like that of a deer, but its neck was very long,
conveying the impression that it was three to four feet in
a 2
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2 t*
i- 3
55
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The Giraffe in Chinese Records and Art 47
length. As at that time giraffes were brought to China, it
is possible that they served as models for this picture of a
Kilin.
Fig. 13 is a woodcut reproduced, after A. C. Moule,
from a Chinese book, entitled "Pictures of Birds and Beasts
of Foreign Lands" (J yii k'in shou t'u), a copy of which is
preserved in the University Library of Cambridge and
which may have originated about or after 1420. The ani-
mal is designated in the engraving as k'i-lin; it is equipped
with a headstall, and is guided by a bare-headed foreigner
clad only with a skirt. There is a little stump between the
animal's ears; the spots are represented by short lines. On
Fig. 13.
Giraffe Guided by a Mohammedan.
Drawing from a Chinese Book of about 1420.
After A. C. Moule.
the whole the artist seems to have endeavored to reproduce
the general appearance of a deer; the neck is comparatively
too short, the body is not correctly outlined, but the tail is
fairly correct.
A Chinese painting representing a giraffe is repro-
duced in Plate III. It was obtained by me at Si-an fu in
1908. It is a long paper scroll dyed a deep black from
which the picture, of circular shape (eleven inches in di-
ameter) is set off in a light brown color. The giraffe is
surprisingly well done, the shape of the head with two
horns and the outlines of the body are well caught, while
48 Field Museum of Natural, History
no attempt is made at delineating the markings of the skin.
The animal is shown freely in nature, surrounded by trees
and brushwork, — a unique conception which, as far as I
know, does not occur elsewhere.
The picture is inscribed at the top with a stanza of
four lines, the characters being neatly written in gold ink.
The poem is characterized as an "imperial composition"
(yu ch'i). It reads, —
With the tail of an ox and the body of a deer, the animal is seen
walking through the wilderness.
Auspicious clouds are facing the sun, and the prosperity of the
government is clearly in evidence.
The people will meet with great success, and there will be a
year of abundant harvest.
There will be plenty of food, and with songs they will praise the
great peace.
Although the animal is not named, it results from the
characteristics ("tail of an ox and body of a deer") that
the Kilin is implicitly understood. Like the Kilin, the gi-
raffe is considered an auspicious omen, presaging a pros-
perous government, a good harvest, abundance of victuals
for all, and a peaceful reign. The poem, on its left side, is
provided with a date which corresponds to our year 1485,
and this may also be the date of the picture; or the latter
may be somewhat earlier, and the poem was added to it in
1485; at any rate, the picture is a production of the fif-
teenth century, the age of the importation of giraffes.
The Chinese painting of a giraffe, reproduced in Plate
IV, is of an entirely different character. It was obtained
in China by Mr. A. W. Bahr, who kindly placed it at my
disposal. The picture is painted on old silk, the surface
of which is much disintegrated, measuring 54 x 33^ inches.
It is not signed or sealed, or in any way inscribed. The
giraffe is of imposing size, and the unknown Chinese artist
has with remarkable effect brought out its height in com-
parison with its two Arab guides. The animal is provided
with a green headstall, and the neck is adorned with a tas-
sel of horse-hair dyed red and surmounted by metal-work.
This tassel is of Chinese make, and was attached to the
The Giraffe in Chinese Records and Art 49
animal on its arrival in China. Horses and mules are still
decorated with such tassels. The almost regular designs of
hexagons covering the body allow the inference that this
animal is intended to represent the reticulated species
which has been described above with reference to a Persian
miniature (p. 39). The two turbaned and bearded Arabs
are clad in long, red, girdled gowns and high boots, and are
types full of character. Each holds the end of a halter in
both his hands. This picture is doubtless a production of
the Ming period, and very probably of the fifteenth cen-
tury.
C. R. Eastman, who in 1917 published this painting in
Nature, advanced the theory that it had been copied in
China from models brought over from Persia, as in his
judgment it bears a striking resemblance to the Persian
miniature in Plate II. This entire speculation decidedly
misses the mark. The two pictures, as every one may con-
vince himself from the reproductions here published, have
but one point in common, — the design of hexagons on the
skins of the animals. This is simply due to the fact that
the Persian and Chinese artists independently endeavored
to sketch the same species, a reticulated giraffe. For the
rest, their productions in style, composition, and spirit are
fundamentally different; the pose and the equipment of the
animals are wholly at variance. Mr. Eastman is ignorant
of the history of the giraffe in Persia and China, and knows
nothing of the numerous importations of live giraffes into
both countries. He invents a comfortable theory to suit
his convenience, and insinuates to Chinese painters a work-
ing method which they never followed. Nothing is known
of Persian animal paintings imported into China and cop-
ied there, but we know as a fact that the Chinese were
always fond of exotic animals and that their artists were
in the habit of portraying them, either voluntarily or by
imperial command.
It was customary with the Chinese emperors to have
unusual animals which were presented by foreign poten-
50 Field Museum op Natural History
tates painted or even sculptured by their court artists. To
cite only two specific instances which occurred during the
Ming period, — a black horse with a white forehead and
white feet was offered to the emperor in 1439 by Ulug Beg
Mirza, chief of Samarkand and eldest son of Shah Rukh,
son of Timur. The emperor ordered a picture of it to be
made. In 1490 an envoy from Samarkand, together with
an embassy from Turf an, arrived to present a lion and a
karakal. When the envoys had reached the province of
Kan-su, pictures were taken of these beasts and forwarded
by a courier to the emperor. The ministers proposed to
decline these presents, but the emperor overruled them and
accepted the gift.
For this reason I am convinced also that the Chinese
paintings of giraffes of the fifteenth century were done
from nature, from study of the live animals sent as gifts to
the imperial court. The situation then was exactly the
same in China as in contemporaneous Italy. It is indeed
a curious coincidence that in the fifteenth century also live
giraffes found their way into Italy and engaged the atten-
tion of Italian artists, as is set forth in the chapter
"The Giraffe in the Age of the Renaissance." Here again
there is no mysterious coeval connection between Chinese
and Italian or between Italian and Persian artists. The art
of all countries creates new forms at all times from the ob-
servation of nature. The activity of the Arabs supplied
giraffes to Europe as well as to Persia, India, and China,
but the interesting fact remains that the fifteenth century
was the great age of the giraffe both in the East and West.
It seems that the importations of giraffes into China
were restricted just to the fifteenth century and ceased
thereafter. During the sixteenth century and under the
Manchu dynasty we hear nothing of giraffes being intro-
duced into the country. Through a curious force of cir-
cumstances the animal was brought again to the attention
of the Chinese in the latter part of the seventeenth
century.
The Giraffe in Chinese Records and Art 51
This revival is due to the early Jesuit missionaries
who endeavored to acquaint their new disciples with the
methods and results of European science and who success-
fully diffused among them knowledge of geography, chrono-
logy, mathematics, physics, astronomy, and technology.
In the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
these indefatigable workers produced a remarkable litera-
ture both in Chinese and Manchu, which exerted no small
degree of influence on the thought of Chinese scholarship.
He who is eager to understand the intellectual develop-
ment of Chinese society during that epoch cannot afford
to neglect the literary efforts of those humble and enter-
prising pioneers. One of them, Ferdinand Verbiest (1623-
88), who came to China in 1659, published about 1683 a
small geographical work in Chinese, entitled K'un yii t'u
shwo, which among other matters also contains illustrations
with brief descriptions of some foreign animals. Eleven of
these pictures have been reproduced in the great cyclopae-
dia T'u shu tsi ch'eng, published in 1726, and this series
includes the giraffe (Fig. 14). The accompanying text runs
thus: "West of Libya there is the country Abyssinia
which produces an animal called u-na-si-yo. Its head is
shaped like that of a horse; its fore feet are as long as those
of a big horse, while its hind feet are short. Its neck is
long; from the hoofs of the fore feet up to the head it is
over twenty-five feet in height. Its skin is variegated in
color. It is fed on hay and grass, and is shown in gardens
to people as a curiosity. It turns round to show off its
beauty to spectators, as though enjoying being looked at."
The source of Verbiest's illustration is Edward Top-
sell's "Historie of Foure-footed Beastes" (London, 1607).
Topsell's picture of the giraffe reproduced in Fig. 18 (p. 68),
as stated by himself, was drawn by Melchior Luorigus at
Constantinople in the year of salvation 1559, and was after-
wards sent to Germany, where it was imprinted at Nurem-
berg. A comparison of the two figures will show their close
interrelation: the animal in outline and pose is identical
Field Museum of Natural History
Fig. 14.
Chinese Woodcut of Giraffe Supplied by Ferdinand Verbioet.
From T'u shu tsi ch'eng.
The Giraffe in Chinese Records and Art 53
in both, the Arab's head-dress has been changed into a
cockade of two feathers in the Chinese engraving, and a
landscape of Chinese style has been added to the latter.
Verbiest has also drawn on Topsell's description. "When
any come to see them, they willingly and of their own
accorde, turne themselves round as it were of purpose to
shewe their soft haires, and beautifull coulour, being as it
were proud to ravish the eies of the beholders." This is
the idea expressed by Verbiest in his concluding sentence.
A similar observation was made by Vincent de Beauvais
(p. 71).
Topsell's influence is also visible in Verbiest's nomen-
clature, for the curious word u-na-si-yo coined by him is
not traceable to any African or Oriental language. Top-
sell, enumerating the Arabic, Chaldaean, Persian, Greek
and Latin names of the animal, says that Albertus adds the
names Oraflus (hence the older French orafle) and Orasius
(cf. p. 72). The latter was chosen by Verbiest and ana-
lyzed into o-ra-si-o; as there is no equivalent for ra in
Chinese, he substituted the syllable na, and may have felt
that he was the more justified in so doing, as Topsell offers
an alleged Chaldaean word Ana.
The foreign word u-na-si-yo, introduced by Verbiest
and only used by him, has never been adopted by the Chin-
ese; but it is noteworthy that the Manchu coined from it a
word for giraffe in the form unasu. This is contained in the
Ts'ing wen pu hui, a Manchu-Chinese dictionary compiled
in 1786. The Manchu word unasu is here explained by a
Chinese gloss "u-na-si-yo, a strange animal from the
country Ya-bi-si (Abyssinia)," briefly characterized with
the words of Verbiest. Verbiest's term u-na-si-yo has
nothing to do with the onager, the wild ass of Central Asia,
as has been suggested by Sakharof and Moule.
To cite another example of how Verbiest made use of
Topsell's data, — he gives the illustration of a beaver, an
animal unknown in China, under the name pan-ti, which
for a long time was a puzzle to me, as it defies identification
64 Field Museum of Natural History
with any name for the beaver in Europe and elsewhere.
Verbiest's picture is copied again from Topsell, who gives
Cants ponticus as the beaver's Latin name, so that the
Chinese rendering pan-ti is doubtless based on ponticus.
Verbiest's hu-lo transcribes Latin gulo, the glutton; his
animal su, which occurs in Chile in South America, is the
Opossum described by Topsell (p. 660) as a "wild beast in
the new-found world called Su." This native American
name, together with the figure of the animal, was derived
by him from A. Thevet's account of Brazil.
The Japanese call the giraffe hyoda ("panther-camel")
or kirin (corresponding to Chinese k'i-liri).
LEAFLET 27.
PLATE VI.
GIRAFFE ON A PORTUGUESE COTTON PRINT, EIGHTEENTH CENTURY (p. 87).
In Art Institute, Chicago.
THE GIRAFFE IN INDIA
It has been pointed out in the preceding chapter that,
according to Chinese records, giraffes were sent to China
in A.D. 1414 by Saifud-din, king of Bengal, and that other
African animals like topi and zebra were shipped to China
from the kingdom of Malabar as early as the thirteenth
century. It is therefore credible that, as H. Schiltberger
reports about 1430, giraffes were found at Delhi. He calls
them surnasa (for surnafa) and describes them as being
"like a stag, but a tall animal with a long neck, four fa-
thoms in length or longer." These African animals were
transported to India by Arabs from the Somali coast by
way of the ports of southern Arabia.
India has played a singular role in the historical rec-
ords of the giraffe. To many ancient and mediaeval writers
India was a rather vague notion, and was correlated with
Ethiopia or confounded with other countries. Several
ancient authors, as mentioned (p. 58), designated India as
the home of the giraffe. During the middle ages a distinc-
tion was made between India the Greater and India the
Lesser (India maior et minor), but there was little concord
as to their identity and boundaries, and Abyssinia was
termed Middle India. According to a Byzantine chronicle,
the emperor Anastasius in A.D. 439 received as a gift from
India an elephant and two animals called "cameloparda-
las." There is no doubt that "India" in this case must be
equalized with Ethiopia. Cassianus Bassus, author of a
work on agriculture (Geoponica, seventh century A.D.),
narrates that he saw at Antiochia a camelopard which he
says had been brought from India. "India," again, must
be understood here as Ethiopia.
Andre" Thevet (Cosmographie universelle, Vol. I, fol.
388b, 1575) was the champion of the strange idea that the
habitat of the giraffe was India. He even specifies it "in
the high mountains of Cangipu, Plumaticq and Caragan
55
56 Field Museum op Natural History
which are in interior India beyond the river Ganges, some
five degrees on this side of the tropic of the cancer." From
there and several other localities giraffes were brought to an
island which he calls Isle Amiadine or Anch^dine, and
where they were kept by the lords of the country for their
pleasure. The Turks found six giraffes there, seized them
and forcibly loaded them on their vessels; two of the ani-
mals died during the voyage, two others died when embarked
at Aden, the two survivors landed safely at Cairo, where
Thevet saw them during his three months' stay (compare
below, p. 83). There is no doubt that owing to his igno-
rance of Arabic Thevet misunderstood his informants or
interpreters, who he says were "Abyssinians and other
Africans." He denies expressly the occurrence of the giraffe
in Ethiopia, adding that if it is found there at the courts
of the kings and princes, it was transported into that
country from India.
Edward Topsell, in his "Historie of Foure-footed
Beastes" (1607), defines the distribution of the giraffe thus:
"These beastes are plentifull in Ethiopia, India, and the
Georgian region, which was once called Media. Likewise
in the province of Abasia in India, it is called Surnosa, and
in Abasia Surnappa." Abasia, as will be seen (p. 74), is
Marco Polo's designation of Abyssinia, and as Abyssinia
was comprised under the term Middle India, the confusion
with India proper arose in Topsell's mind, or was already
contained in the source which he may have consulted.
F. Bernier, who travelled in the Mogul empire dur-
ing the years 1656-68, reports that he saw at the court of
the emperor Aureng-Zeb the skin of a zebra which ambas-
sadors from the king of Ethiopia had brought along. The
zebra was alive when it left Africa, but died during the
voyage, and the ambassadors had sense enough to preserve
its skin. Bernier describes it as "a small species of mule:
no tiger is so beautifully marked, and no striped silken
stuff is more finely and variously streaked." In view
of the fact that India maintained considerable r ^
The Giraffe in India 57
with Guendar or Gondar, formerly capital of the Amharic
kingdom of Abyssinia, it is quite possible that giraffes also
came from there directly to India.
THE GIRAFFE AMONG THE ANCIENTS
The giraffe, being a strictly African animal, remained
unknown to the civilizations of Western Asia in ancient
times. In the period of the independence of Hellas the
Greeks were not acquainted with it. Aristotle, the only-
great zoologist of antiquity, does not describe it. It has
been supposed that the hippardion or pardion mentioned
by Aristotle (Historia animalium II, 1) as having "a thin
mane extending from the head to the withers/'without
further particulars, may be the giraffe, but this is highly
improbable; at any rate, the evidence for such an identifi-
cation is insufficient. In the epoch of Hellenism when the
geographical horizon had widened and when giraffes were
transmitted from Egypt to Rome, we meet the first de-
scription of them in late Greek and Roman authors. There
is, accordingly, no representation of the animal in Greek
art, nor is it found on antique coins or engraved gems.
In 46 B.C. the first giraffe arrived in Rome, and
marched in Caesar's triumphal procession; it was subse-
quently shown in the circus games held by Caesar. This
event caused a great sensation, and is referred to by Varro,
Horace, Dio Cassius, and Pliny.
Ten giraffes appeared in the circus of Rome in A.D. 247
under the emperor Gordianus III to take part in the cele-
bration of the first millennium that had elapsed since the
foundation of Rome. This was the largest number of live
giraffes ever brought together at any time. Giraffes were
also in the possession of the emperor Aurelianus (A.D.
270-275). In A.D. 274, when he celebrated his triumph
over Zenobia, queen of Palmyra, several giraffes appeared
in the circus games.
In regard to the habitat of the animal the notions of
the ancients were vague. Some authors like Pausanias,
Bassus, and others locate it in India; Artemidorus ascribes
58
LEAFLET 27.
GIRAFFE GUIDED BY AFRICAN NATIVE.
Photograph by Courtesy of Carl Hagenbeck.
The Giraffe among the Ancients 59
it to Arabia, Agatharchides to the country of the Trog-
lodytes; Pliny and Heliodorus place its home in Ethiopia.
Agatharchides of Cnidus, a Greek historian and geo-
grapher, who lived under Ptolemy Philometor (181-146
B.C.), is the author of a geographical treatise on the Red
Sea, which has not been preserved, but extracts of which
have been handed down by Diodorus (II, 51) and Photius.
"The animals called camelopardalis by the Greeks," Aga-
tharchides relates, "present a mixture of both the animals
comprehended in this appellation. In size they are smaller
than camels, but shorter in the neck; as to their head and
the disposition of their eyes they are somewhat like a pard
(pardalis). In the curvature of the back again they have
some resemblance to the camel, but in color and growth of
hair they are like pards (leopards). In like manner, as they
have a long tail, they typify the nature of this animal."
Strabo (XVI. 4, 16) describes the giraffe after Artemi-
dorus, a geographer and traveller from Ephesus (about
100 B.C.) as follows:—
"Camelopards are bred in these parts, but they do not
in any respect resemble leopards, for their variegated skin
is more like the streaked and spotted skin of fallow deer.
The hinder quarters are so very much lower than the fore
quarters, that it seems as if the animal were sitting upon
its rump. It has the height of an ox; the fore legs are as
long as those of the camel. The neck rises high and
straight up, but the head greatly exceeds in height that of
the camel. From this want of proportion, the speed of the
animal is not so great, I think, as it is described by Artemi-
dorus, according to whom it cannot be overtaken. It is,
however, not a wild animal, but rather like a domesticated
beast; for it shows no signs of a savage disposition."
Dio Cassius, in his Roman History (XLII), alludes to
the fact that the camelopardalis was introduced into Rome
by Caesar for the first time and exhibited to all. He de-
scribes the animal "as being like a camel in all respects,
except that its legs are not all of the same length, the hind
60 Field Museum op Natural History
legs being the shorter. Beginning from the rump it grows
gradually higher, which gives it the appearance of mount-
ing some elevation ; and towering high aloft, it supports the
rest of its body on its front legs and lifts its neck in turn to
an unusual height. Its skin is spotted like a leopard, and
for this reason it bears the joint name of both animals."
This plain and clear notice is doubtless based on a personal
experience with the giraffe.
In the same manner as the ostrich was believed to
resemble the camel (Leaflet 23, p. 24), Pliny (VIII, 27)
recognized an affinity of the camel with the giraffe. He
describes it under the name cameleopardus and locates it
correctly in Ethiopia, where, he says, it is called nabun.
"It has a neck like that of a horse, feet and legs like those
of an ox, a head like that of a camel, and is covered with
white spots upon a red ground; hence it has been styled
cameleopard. It was first seen at Rome in the circus games
held by Caesar, the Dictator. Since that time it has been
occasionally seen again. It is more remarkable for the
singularity of its appearance than for its fierceness; for this
reason it has obtained the name of the wild sheep." In-
deed, the giraffe was called in Latin also ovis fera ("wild
sheep").
Horace (Epistles II, 1) reproaches his fellow-citizens
for the pleasure they take in the circus games, and on
this occasion paraphrases the name Camelopardalis: —
Si foret in terris, rideret Democritus, seu
Diversum confusa genus panthera camelo,
Sive elephas albus vulgi converteret ora.
"Democritus, if he were still on earth,
would deride a throng gazing with open
mouth at a beast half camel, half panther,
or at a white elephant."
C. Julius Solinus (Collectanea rerum memorabilium,
30, 19) mentions the giraffe, but merely copies Pliny.
The poem Kynegetika ("The Hunt"), ascribed to the
poetOppianus (second century A.D.), but written by a poet
from Apamea, contains a remarkably good description of
The Giraffe among the Ancients 61
the giraffe (III, 461 ; ed. of P. Boudreaux, p. 119). "Muse!
May thy sonorous and harmonious voice sing also of the
animals of mixed nature formed by a combination of two
different races among which the leopard with speckled
back is united with the camel. Father Jupiter, what mag-
nificence shines in thy numerous works! What an abun-
dant variety is revealed in plants, quadrupeds, and marine
mammals! How many gifts didst thou bestow on the mor-
tals! Thou whose power has clothed with the leopard's
robe this species of camel embellished with the richest
colors, — noble and charming animals tamed by man with-
out effort! They have a long neck, their body is sprinkled
with various spots; short ears crown their heads devoid of
hair in the upper part. Their legs are long, and their feet
are large, but these limbs are unequal in size. The fore
legs are much more elevated than those behind which are
considerably shorter. The lame have such legs. From the
middle of the head of these animals issue two horns which
are not of the nature of ordinary horns; their soft points
surrounded by hair rise on the temples and close to the
ears. This species, like deer, has a small mouth slightly
split and provided with small teeth as white as silk. Its
eyes are vividly lustrous, and its tail, as short as that of a
gazelle, is furnished with a tuft of black hair at the end."
Oppianus is the first author who mentions the horns
of the giraffe, but curiously enough he does not mention
its name.
Heliodorus from Emesa, bishop of Trikka, who lived
in the third or fourth century A.D., has given the most de-
tailed description of the animal, which is embodied in his
romance The Ethiopics (Aethiopica X, 27). The envoys of
the Axiomites of Abyssinia presented a giraffe to the king.
"These also presented gifts among which, besides other
things, there was a certain species of animal, of nature
both extraordinary and wonderful. In size it approached
that of a camel, but the surface of its skin was marked with
flower-like spots. Its hind parts and the flanks were low,
62 Field Museum op Natural History
and like those of a lion, but the shoulders, fore legs, and
chest were much higher in proportion than the other limbs.
His neck was slender, towering up from his large body into
a swan-like neck. His head, like that of a camel, was about
twice as large as that of a Libyan ostrich. His eyes were
very bright and rolled with a fierce expression. His gait
also was different from that of every other land or water
animal, for his legs were not moved alternately but by
pairs, those on the right side being moved together, and
then, in like manner, those on the left together, one side at
a time being raised before the other, so that in walking he
always had one side dangling. For the rest he was so tame
and gentle in disposition that his master led him wherever
he pleased solely by a small cord fastened around his neck,
and he followed him wherever he wanted, as though he
were attached to him by means of a very large and strong
fetter. At the appearance of this creature the multitude
was struck with astonishment, and its form suggesting a
name, it received from the populace, from the most pro-
minent features of its body resembling a camel and a leo-
pard, the improvised name of camelopardalis."
When the sacrificial animals at the altars of Helios
and Selene (the Sun and Moon) got sight of the odd beast,
a stampede ensued ; four white horses and a pair of bulls
were terrified as if they had beheld some phantom, freed
themselves, and galloped wildly away.
Heliodorus' description is picturesque and fairly accu-
rate, save the remark about the fierce glances of the animal,
and is apparently based on direct observation. It is note-
worthy that he is the first who comments on the amble of
the giraffe (see above, p. 8).
A giraffe (reproduced in Fig. 15) is painted as a deco-
ration on the wall of a mortuary vault (columbarium) of
the Villa Pamfili at Rome. The animal is conducted by a
young guide by means of a long bridle and carries a bell
(tintinnabulum) around its neck, a symbol of its tameness.
On the other side of the man there is an antelope. The
The Giraffe among the Ancients
63
original has been destroyed, but a copy of the picture is
preserved in Munich.
Two giraffes are represented in a mosaic now pre-
served in the palace Barberini of Palestrina (the ancient
Praeneste, 21 miles from Rome). They are shown grazing
and browsing (Fig. 16).
This mosaic was discovered in 1640 and purchased by
Cardinal Barberini, who caused a careful drawing to be
made of it, and then had it removed to Rome for repairs
before having it relaid in his palace at Palestrina. It is said
to have formed the pavement of part of the Temple of
Fig. 15.
Roman Mural Painting of a Giraffe with Guide.
After Daremberg and Saglio.
Fortune at Praeneste, but this view is contested by S.
Reinach. The upper portion of the composition illustrates
animals of the Egyptian Sudan; they show a striking re-
semblance to those of the tomb of Marissa.
In the Necropolis of Marissa in Palestine there is in
one of the tombs a painted frieze of animals of Graeco-
Egyptian style, among these, in the opinion of the discov-
erers of the tomb, "what is evidently intended for a giraffe"
(J. P. Peters and H. Thiersch, Painted Tombs in the
Necropolis of Marissa, p. 25. Palestine Exploration Fund,
64
Field Museum op Natural History
London, 1905). They describe it as follows: "The neck is
very long, but the head, with its rounded ears and large,
prominent eye, is much too big. The hind quarters and tail
Fig. 16.
Giraffes in the Mosaic of Palestrina.
After S. Reinach, Repertoire de Peintures.
are those of the deer, the fore legs are as long as the hind
legs, and the withers actually lower than the rump. The
spotted skin is represented by little black and red spots.
Fig. 17.
Giraffe (?) from Painted Tomb at Marissa, Palestine.
After Peters and Thiersch.
The title above it seems to read : Kamelopardalos." If the
latter statement were correct, there would be no doubt of
the artist's intention, but in the colored plate (VII) repro-
The Giraffe among the Ancients 65
during this portion of the frieze I cannot recognize such a
name. Be this as it may, the drawing itself is clumsy and
rather represents a deer with a somewhat long neck, with-
out any peculiar characteristics of a giraffe. The animal
was probably known to the painter only from hearsay
accounts (Fig. 17).
The ancients have not done justice to the giraffe, and
have not produced any really artistic representation of it.
THE GIRAFFE AT CONSTANTINOPLE
Menageries were established at Constantinople during
the eleventh century when Cortstantinus IX received an
elephant and a giraffe from the Sultan of Egypt. These
animals were repeatedly shown in the theatre of Byzance
and marvelled at as wonders of nature. The Greeks were
passionately fond of circus games and combats of ferocious
beasts. The capture of Constantinople through the crusa-
ders in 1203 and the subsequent pillage of the city un-
doubtedly led to the destruction of the amphitheatre which
is no longer mentioned after that date. Notwithstanding,
the Byzantine emperors continued to keep exotic animals.
In 1257 Michael Paleologus received from the king of Ethi-
opia a giraffe which he paraded for several days through
the streets of the city for the diversion of the Byzantines.
This event was regarded as of sufficient importance that
Pachymerus, the contemporaneous chronicler of the reign
of Michael, took the opportunity of inserting in his work
a detailed description of the animal. He emphasizes its
gentle disposition and writes that it is so tame that it
allows even children to play with it; it lives on grass, but
also likes bread and barley no less than a sheep.
Philostorgius (A. D. 364-424), author of an ecclesiastic
history (III, 11), speaks of the animals which had come
from Ethiopia to Constantinople, and mentions drawings
representing giraffes which he had seen at Constantinople
himself. He gives a very brief description of the animal,
comparing it with a large stag. According to Gyllius, au-
thor of a Topography of Constantinople, there were in that
city stone statues of giraffes publicly exhibited, together
with those of unicorns, tigers, and vultures, but they have
since disappeared. It appears from these data that the
giraffe must have played a certain role in Byzantine picto-
rial and plastic art.
The menagerie of Constantinople was visited and de-
scribed by Pierre Belon in 1546, but no giraffe is mentioned
66
The Giraffe at Constantinople 67
by him. Thirty years later the menagerie was enriched by
a giraffe which took part in the festivities occasioned by the
circumcision of Mahomet III. Baudier (Histoire generate
du Serrail, Lyons, 1659) attended these festivities, and
describes a giraffe exhibited on this occasion in the hippo-
drome. He makes the curious statement that its fore legs are
four or five times higher than the hind legs. When con-
ducted through the streets, he says, its head reached into
the windows of the houses.
English travellers made the acquaintance of the gi-
raffe at Constantinople. This accounts for the fact that
the first English picture of the animal was secured by way
of Constantinople.
Fig. 18 is a reproduction of the giraffe inserted in
Edward Topsell's "Historie of Foure-footed Beastes," pub-
lished in London, 1607. In regard to the source of his
illustration, Topsell gives the following information: "The
latter picture here set down was truely taken by Melchior
Luorigus at Constantinople, in the yeare of salvation 1559.
By the sight of one of these, sent to the great Turke for a
present: which picture and discription, was afterwarde sent
into Germany, and was imprinted at Norimberge."
Fynes Moryson, author of the History of Ireland,
offers in his "Itinerary" (1597) the following story: —
"Here (at Constantinople) be the mines of a pallace
upon the very wals of the city, called the palace of Con-
stantine, wherein I did see an elephant, called philo by the
Turkes, and another beast newly brought out of Affricke
(the mother of monsters), which beast is altogether un-
knowne in our parts, and is called surnapa by the people of
Asia, astanapa by others, and giraffa by the Italians, the
picture whereof I remember to have seene in the mappes of
Mercator; and because the beast is very rare, I will de-
scribe his forme as well as I can. His haire is red coloured,
with many blacke and white spots; I could scarce reach
with the points of my fingers to the hinder part of his
backe, which grew higher and higher towards his fore-
68 Field Museum op Natural History
Fig. 18.
Giraffe from E. Topsell's Historic of Foure-footed Beaates (1607).
Drawn in 1559 by Melchior Luorigus at Constantinople.
The Giraffe at Constantinople 69
shoulder, and his necke was thinne and some three els long.
So as hee easily turned his head in a moment to any part or
corner of the roome wherein he stood, putting it over the
beams thereof, being built like a barne, and high for the
Turkish building, not unlike the building of Italy, by rea-
son whereof he many times put his nose in my necke, when
I thought myselfe furthest distant from him, which famili-
arity of his I liked not; and howsoever the keepers assured
me he would not hurt me yet I avoided these his familiar
kisses as much as I could. His body was slender, not great-
er, but much higher then the body of a stagge or hart, and
his head and face was like to that of a stagge, but the head
was lesse and the face more beautifull: he had two homes,
but short and scarce halfe a foote long; and in the forehead
he had two bunches of flesh, his ears and feete like an ox,
and his legges like a stagge."
Of the oriental words given by Moryson, his philo for
elephant is Turkish, which is derived from Persian pil
(Aramaic pil, Arabic fil). His word surnapa for the giraffe
is Persian surnapa or zurndpa.
John Sanderson, a London merchant, visited Constan-
tinople about the year 1600, and thus relates his impres-
sions at the first sight of a giraffe: —
"The admirablest and fairest beast that ever I saw
was a jarraff, as tame as a domesticall deere, and of a red-
dish deere colour, white brested and cloven footed: he was
of a very great height, his fore-legs longer then the hinder,
a very long necke, and headed like a camell, except two
stumps of home on his head. This fairest animall was sent
out of Ethiopia, to this great Turkes father for a present;
two Turkes the keepers of him, would make him kneele,
but not before any Christian for any money."
THE GIRAFFE DURING THE MIDDLE AGES
After the fall of the Roman Empire the giraffe re-
mained unknown in most parts of Europe for about a
thousand years. Even that small sum of knowledge which
the late Greeks and Romans possessed of the animal was
lost during that period, and the few mediaeval writers who
refer to it are content to quote Solinus; thus Isidorus of
Seville (Etymologiarum libri XX, XII, 19, and Origines
XII, 2), who wrote about A.D. 636, and who confounds
the camelopard with the chameleon and for the rest copies
Solinus, and likewise Rabanus Maurus (De universo VIII
B), abbot of Fulda and archbishop of Mayence (about
A.D. 844).
A new impetus to knowledge was received from the
Arabs after their conquest of Spain. The Arabs were fond
of animals, and an animal park belonged to the essentials
of every Muslim court. When Abderrahman III (A.D.
912-961) in A.D. 936 founded the city Zahra, one mile north
of Cordova, in Spain, he established there a garden where
rare animals and birds were kept in cages and fenced en-
closures. This was the first zoological garden in Europe.
In southern Europe the first great menageries were
installed at the court of Frederick II (1212-50), king of the
Two Sicilies. This prince, born in Sicily, rather Italian
than German, had inherited from his Neapolitan mother a
taste for oriental manners and a veritable passion for ani-
mals. He made a study of birds, especially those used for
the chase, observed them, even dissected them, and wrote
a treatise on ornithology. He had an elephant sent to him
from India, and he presented to the Sultan of Egypt a
white bear in exchange for a giraffe. At Palermo, his usual
residence, he created a sort of zoological garden which has
been described by Otto von St. Blasio. Frederick was on
such good terms with the Muslims that his tolerance gave
rise to suspicions of his orthodoxy. He was in correspon-
70
The Giraffe during the Middle Ages 71
dence with the Arab philosopher Ibn Sabin. An Arab his-
torian confesses that "the emperor was the most excellent
among the kings of the Franks, devoted to science, philo-
sophy, and medicine, and well-disposed toward Muslims."
In 1261 a giraffe was presented to Manfred, a son' of
Frederick, by the Sultan Beybars (above, p. 36).
It was accordingly the Arabs who acquainted Euror
pean nations with the live giraffe. This fact is also borne
out by our word for the animal, which is derived from the
Arabic zarafa or zurdfa. The old Spanish form azorafd has
even preserved the Arabic article al (al-zarafa). In modem
Spanish and Portuguese it is girafa, in French girafe (older
French orafle or girafle), Italian giraffa. During the middle
ages it was sometimes identified with seraph: thus E. Top-
sell (Historie of Four-footed Beastes, 1607) still gives the
Arabic name as Sarapha, and B. von Breydenbach's pic-
ture of the animal is inscribed seraffa (p. 76). In Purchas
(Pilgrims) the form ziraph occurs. Yule thinks it is not
impossible that seraph, in its Biblical use, may be radically
connected with the giraffe, but this hypothesis is very im-
probable.
Vincent de Beauvais, author of the Speculum naturale
(thirteenth century) refers to the giraffe in three different
chapters of his work under three different names, without
noticing that these names apply to the same animal. First,
he describes it under the name Anabulla (evidently based
on Pliny's Ethiopic word nabun) as having the neck of a
horse, feet and legs of a bull, the head of a camel, and a
skin pale red and white in color. Second, he mentions it as
camelopardus, copying Solinus or Isidorus. Finally he
describes it under the name Orasius, saying that in his time
it had been transmitted to the emperor Frederick by the
Sultan of the Babylonians. He remarks that the animal
seems not to be ignorant of its own beauty, for when it sees
people standing around, it turns completely so that it may
be admired from every side, for nature has ornamented it
with finer colors than all other beasts.
72
Field Museum op Natural History
Albertus Magnus (1193-1280), in his work De quad-
rupedibus (XXII, 2, 1) mentions the giraffe twice, under
the name Anabula and again under that of Camelopardu-
lus, without recognizing the identity of the two. He gives
Seraph as Arabic and Italian name, and writes that the
skin, on account of its decoration, is sold at a high price;
he also mentions the giraffe of Frederick II. Neither Vin-
cent nor Albertus alludes to the horns.
The Latinized form oraflus (hence older French orafle)
is distilled from old Spanish azorafa, and the form orasius
occurring in Vincent de Beauvais and Albertus Magnus is
due to a misreading of / (/) for s (/), which letters were
very similar in ancient manuscripts and printed books.
Fig. 19.
Cameleopardua (Alleged Giraffe).
From the Dialogus Creaturarum Moralisatus (1486).
The climax of all these confusions was finally reached
by the creation of a picture of the Camelopardus recon-
structed entirely on the basis of mediaeval literary notices
and bearing no resemblance whatever to a giraffe. The
animal shown in Fig. 19 is reproduced from the Dialogus
creaturarum moralisatus, a collection of moralizing ani-
mal fables published in Dutch (Gouda, 1480, 1481, 1483,
and Antwerp, 1486) and translated into English under the
title "The Dialogues of the Creatures Moralized" (London,
1813, with the animal pictures). Our illustration is based
on a photograph taken from an original edition of the work
in the University Library of Leiden. The text begins,
The Giraffe during the Middle Ages 73
"Cameleopardus is an animal which has a hoof like a camel,
a neck like a horse, feet and legs like a buffalo, and many
spots as the animal pardus has on its body." Then follows
a conversation of this fictitious creature with Christ, which
is not of interest in this connection. A similar fantastic
creature accompanies the early editions of Sir John Maun-
deville's Travels as an illustration of the giraffe (p. 75).
In contrast with this crude ignorance there are a few
mediaeval travellers who had occasion to see giraffes and
wrote of them somewhat sensibly. Cosmas, a Christian
monk from Alexandria, called Indicopleustes ("the Indian
Navigator"), in the course of his travels, visited Ethiopia
Fig. 20.
Camelopardalis of Cosmas Indicopleustes.
After J. W. McCrindle, Christian Topography of Cosmas.
about A.D. 525, and in book XI of his "Christian Topo-
graphy" (written about A.D. 547) gives a brief description
of the animals of the country. The giraffe is thus treated
by him under the name Camelopardalis: "Camelopards
are found only in Ethiopia. They also are wild creatures
and undomesticated. In the palace [in the capital Axum]
they have one or two that, by command of the king [Eles-
boas], have been caught when young and tamed to make a
show for the king's amusement. When milk or water to
drink is set before these creatures in a pan, as is done in the
king's presence, they cannot, by reason of the great length
of their legs and the height of their chest and neck, stoop
74 Field Museum op Natural History
down to the earth and drink, unless by straddling with
their fore legs. They must therefore, it is plain, in order to
drink, stand with their fore legs wide apart. This animal
also I have delineated from my personal knowledge of it."
Like Herodotus of old, Cosmas was ever athirst after
knowledge and possessed of some skill in drawing; he took
much delight in covering his manuscript with sketches illu-
strative of what he had observed, especially types of people
and animals. His giraffe, reproduced in Fig. 20, may be
designated as a fairly correct outline of the animal.
A giraffe (orafle) of crystal as a gift of the Old Man of
the Mountain to the king of France is mentioned by Jean
Sire de Joinville (Histoire de Saint Louis, written between
1304 and 1309).
Marco Polo alludes to giraffes in three passages of his
famous narrative, — for Madagascar, the island of Zanghi-
bar (that is, the country of the Negroes), and for Abyssinia.
Polo never visited Madagascar, and his hearsay account
of the island contains many errors, among these the giraffe
which never occurred in Madagascar and does not occur
there. The interesting point, however, is that Polo is the
first who recognized a wider geographical distribution of
the giraffe and looked for it beyond the limits of Abyssinia
to which all former travellers had confined it. With refer-
ence to Zanghibar he informs us, —
"They have also many giraffes. This is a beautiful
creature, and I must give you a description of it. Its body
is short and somewhat sloped to the rear, for its hind legs
are short, while the fore legs and the neck are both very
long, and thus its head stands about three paces from the
ground. The head is small, and the animal is not at all
mischievous. Its color is all red and white in round spots,
and it is really a beautiful creature."
In the Latin and French versions the animal's name
is spelled graffa ; in Ramusio's Italian version, giraffa. Abys-
sinia is called by Polo Abash (Italian spelling: Abascia;
The Giraffe during the Middle Ages 75
Latin: Abasia), based on Arabic Habash. He writes that
giraffes are produced in the country.
The knight, Wilhelm von Bodensele, whose itinerary-
was written in 1336 at the request of the Cardinal Talley-
rand de Perigord, saw a giraffe at Cairo, calling it geraffan.
The earliest notice of the giraffe in English literature
occurs in the Travels of Sir John Maundeville of St. Albans
(chap. 94), written about the year 1356: —
"In Araby is a kynde of beast that some men call
Garsantes [giraffes], that is a fayre beast, and he is hyer
than a great courser or a stead [steed], but his neck is nere
XX cubytes long, and his crop and his taile lyke a hart and
he may loke over a high house." The numerous manu-
scripts of Maundeville's Travels, owing to the great popu-
larity of the book (scarcely two copies agree to any extent),
show many divergences, and in some of them giraffes under
the name orafles are ascribed to Chinese Tartary, with the
addition, "There also ben many Bestes, that ben clept
Orafles. In Arabye, thei ben clept Gerfauntz, that is a Best
pomelee or spotted."
As is well known, Maundeville is a fictitious person,
and the book going under his name was compiled by a
physician of Liege from various sources.
The first printed illustration of a half-way realistic
giraffe (Fig. 21) is found in the Peregrinationes in Terram
Sanctam ("Peregrinations into the Holy Land") by Bern-
hard von Breydenbach, dean of Mayence. This work was
first published in the same city in 1486, and represents the
first illustrated account of a pilgrimage undertaken into
the Holy Land in 1483-84, that contains views of places
seen en route from Venice to Mount Sinai and drawn by
Breydenbach's companion, the painter Erhard Reuwich.
The animals sketched by him are the giraffe, inscribed
Seraffa, crocodile, rhinoceros, capre de India ("Indian
goat"), unicorn (a horse with narwhal's tusk), camel, sala-
mander (gecko), and a great ape of unknown name (Simia
sylvanus), accompanied by the statement that "these ani-
76 Field Museum op Natural History
Fig. 21.
Giraffe (Seraffa) by Edward Reuwich.
From B. von Breydenbach's Peregrinationes in Terrain Sanctam (.I486).
The Giraffe euring the Middle Ages 77
mals are truly depicted, as actually seen by us in the Holy
Land"(hec animalia sunt veraciter depicta sicut vidimus
in terra sancta). Hugh Wm. Davies, in his Bibliography of
Breydenbach (1911), remarks that "this can be believed
in regard to the figures of the giraffe and dromedary, which
are admirably drawn and probably the earliest printed."
I cannot quite approve of this charitable attitude, for the
horns of the animal are entirely wrong; in fact, they are
not those of a giraffe, but of an antelope or oryx, very like
those of Oryx leucoryx, the algazel. The tail is also misrepre-
sented; the spots are indicated by small circles. I am in-
clined to presume that Reuwich drew the picture of the
giraffe from memory and that in his effort to remember it
visions of the oryx may have crossed his mind; at any rate,
some mishap has occurred to him.
Breydenbach's work found a wide distribution: other
editions with the woodcuts of the animals are in Flemish
(Mainz, 1488), in French (Lyons, 1489), in Latin (Speier,
1490), in Spanish (Zaragoza, 1498), and some later editions,
which go to show that in the latter part of the fifteenth
century the giraffe was known on paper in most countries
of Europe. Not all editions, however, contain the illustra-
tions; thus the Newberry Library of Chicago has a Latin
edition printed at Speier, 1486, and a French edition of
Paris, 1522, which are minus the woodcuts.
The whole plate of Reuwich's animal pictures was
taken over by Nicole le Huen and reproduced in his book
"Des sainctes peregrinations de JheYusalem et des avirons
et des lieux prochains," published at Lyons, 1488. Joly
and Lavocat have copied this plate and erroneously as-
signed the giraffe and other animals to the ingenuity of
Nicole le Huen, as Breydenbach's work was not accessible
to them.
A tolerably accurate sketch of a giraffe was therefore
known in central Europe toward the end of the fifteenth
century, but artistic representations of the animal we owe
78 Field Museum op Natural History
to Italian painters of about the same time, as will be seen
in the following chapter. •
In his famous edition of Marco Polo's Travels Henry-
Yule comments that "the giraffe is sometimes wrought in
the patterns of mediaeval Saracenic damasks and in Sicili-
an ones imitated from the former." An inquiry addressed
to the Victoria and Albert Museum of London in regard
to these designs elicited the following information from
Mr. S. L. B. Ashton, in charge of the Department of Tex-
tiles: "I am afraid Yule is misleading on this question; the
animals on these silks represent some form of deer and
could not be taken for giraffes. I imagine that owing to the
fact that they are usually represented in confronted pairs
with their heads upturned, Yule mistook this length of
neck to indicate that they were giraffes."
THE GIRAFFE IN THE AGE OF THE
RENAISSANCE
The civilization of the Renaissance in Italy is char-
acterized by the awakening of great interest in natural
sciences, particularly in botany and zoology, and by a zeal
for collecting curious plants and animals. During the fif-
teenth century, botanical gardens and animal parks (Itali-
an serraglio) were founded in many places in Italy. The
joy of exotic beasts led to the importation of live lions,
leopards, elephants, camels, giraffes, ostriches, and even
crocodiles from the ports of the southern and eastern Medi-
terranean. Arabs and Turks then were the active pur-
veyors of menagerie animals, in the same manner as the
Near East had played this role in the time of the ancient
Romans.
One of the chroniclers of Florence relates that in the
year 1459, when the Pope Pius II and Maria Sforza were
received in that city, bulls, horses, boars, dogs, lions, and a
giraffe were enclosed on a public square, but that the lions
lay down and refused to attack the other animals. From
letters of contemporaries we learn that they observed that
lions kept in captivity abandoned their ferocity; and it
once happened, as a letter-writer remarks, that a bull
drove them back "like sheep into their fold."
Of the collections of exotic animals maintained by the
princes of Italy, the most famous was the menagerie of
Ferrante, duke of Naples, which contained a giraffe and a
zebra, — two animals hitherto not seen in Europe. The
duke had received them as a gift from the Caliph of Bag-
dad, toward the end of the fifteenth century.
Under Lorenzo di Medici the luxury in exotic animals
reached its climax at Florence. He had, first of all, leo-
pards trained for hunting whose fame spread into France;
moreover, tigers, lions, and bears which he caused to com-
79
80 Field Museum op Natural History
bat with bulls, horses, boars, and greyhounds; elephants
which, together with lions, appeared in a triumphal proces-
sion, and finally a giraffe presented in 1486 by El-Ashraf
Kait-Bey (1468-96), the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt. This
animal was eulogized by the poets Angelo Poliziano and
Antonio Costanzo, and was painted in one of the frescoes
of the Poggio Cajano Palace in 1521.
Poliziano took matters rather easily, and in his poem
confined himself to the remark that he had seen Lorenzo's
giraffe; then he proceeds to translate literally the text of
Heliodorus cited above (p. 61). Costanzo, however, shows
that he really observed the animal, and his data betray
the mind of an original thinker. He criticizes Strabo for
questioning the animal's fleetness, and reproves Pliny,
Solinus, Diodorus, Strabo, Varro, and Albertus Magnus
for having suppressed the fact that it is provided with
horns. In a Latin epigram addressed by him to Lorenzo
the giraffe is introduced as speaking to the latter and
lodging a complaint at having thus been deprived of its
horns by the writers of the past. Lorenzo's giraffe was so
gentle, he says, that it would eat bread, hay, or fruit out
of a child's hand, and that when led through the streets, it
would take whatever food of this kind was offered to it by
spectators.
Lorenzo's giraffe met with a singular fate: it aroused
the envy of Anne de Beaujeu, daughter of Louis XI, king
of France, who died in 1483. Anne inherited from her
father the love for animals, for she purchased a hundred
and fifty-six siskins for the large aviary of the castle. She
had dreams of owning some day a giraffe, which at that
time was the object of curiosity at the Court of Florence
and which she alleged Lorenzo di Medici had promised her.
Her letter addressed to him on the 14th of April, 1489,
from Plessys du Pare is a document curious enough to be
placed here on record. "You know," she wrote, "that
formerly you advised me in writing that you would send
me the giraffe (la girafle), and although I am sure that you
•" at
< -g
< b
r o
< 5
x O
The Giraffe in the Age of the Renaissance 81
will keep your promise, I beg you, nevertheless, to deliver
the animal to me and send it this way, so that you may
understand the affection which I have for it; for this is
the beast of the world that I have the greatest desire to
see. And if there is any thing on this side I can do for
you, I shall apply myself to it with all my heart. God be
with you and guard you." Signed "Anne de France."
The Medicean, however, remained deaf to this prayer
and kept his giraffe. It seems that breach of promise suits
were not yet instituted at that time.
Giraffes were also kept at other Italian courts; for in-
stance, by Alphonso II, duke of Calabria, in his villa
Poggio Reale, and by Duke Hercules I in the Barco
Park at Ferrara.
A giraffe is introduced into the background of Gentile
Bellini's painting "Preaching of St. Mark at Alexandria,"
which is in the Brera Gallery of Milan (good photograph
in the Ryerson Library of Art Institute, Chicago). G.
Bellini (1426-1507) was court painter to the Sultan at Con-
stantinople from 1479 to 1481, and brought back many
sketches on his return to Italy, doubtless also the sketch
of a giraffe. The painting in question was left unfinished
at his death, and was completed by his brother Giovanni.
It is an elaborate composition: a throng of monks and tur-
baned Orientals listening to the sermon of St. Mark on a
huge square bordered by Moorish buildings and a cathe-
dral in the background. At the foot of the stairway is
planted a solitary and harmless two-horned giraffe, well
outlined in its general features.
In 1487 the Sultan of Turkey presented to the Sig-
noria of Florence a giraffe which caused a profound sensa-
tion. It was glorified in many painted portraits. Thus a
giraffe figures in an "Adoration of the Magi" painted in the
school of Pinturricchio (1454-1513) and now in the Pitti
Palace of Rome.
Andrea Vannucchi, called Andrea del Sarto (1486-
1531), has inserted a giraffe in the procession of the Three
82 Field Museum of Natural History
Kings painted by him on a fresco of the Church of the
Annunciation (Santissima Annunziata) at Florence (exe-
cuted about 1510). He did so again in his Tribute to
Caesar, dated 1521.
Leo Africanus, an Arabic traveller from Granada (be-
ginning of the sixteenth century), writes, "Of the beast
called Giraffa. — This beast is so savage and wilde, that it
is a very rare matter to see any of them: for they hide
themselves among the deserts and woodes, where no other
beasts use to come; and so soone as one of them espieth a
man, it flieth foorthwith, though not very swiftly. It is
headed like a camell, eared like an oxe, and footed like a...
[a word is wanting here in the original]: neither are any
taken by hunters, but while they are very yoong."
Pierre Gilles of Albi (or Latinized Gellius) was sent
in 1544 to the Orient by command of king Francois I, in
order to "search for and amass ancient books for the king's
library." He stopped at Constantinople and Cairo, and in
the latter city visited the menagerie of the castle, where
the Pasha of Egypt resided. He tells us that he found
there three giraffes which he describes thus (in his book De
vi et natura animalium XVI, 9) : —
"On their foreheads are two horns six inches long, and
in the middle of their forehead rises a tubercle to the height
of about two inches, which appears like a third horn (in
fronte media tuberculum existebat, velut tertium cornu,
altum circiter duos digitos). Its neck is seven feet long.
This animal is sixteen feet high from the ground, when it
holds up its head. It is twenty-two feet long from the tip
of the nose to the end of the tail; its fore legs are nearly of
an equal height, but the thighs before are so long in com-
parison to those behind, that its back inclines like the roof
of a house. Its whole body is sprinkled with large spots,
which are nearly of a square form and of the color of a deer.
Its feet are cloven like those of an ox; its upper lip hangs
over the under one; its tail is slender, with hair on it to the
very point. It ruminates like an ox, and, like cattle, feeds
The Giraffe in the Age of the Renaissance 83
upon herbage and other things. Its mane is like that of a
horse and extends from the top of the head to the back.
When it walks, it seems to limp, first moving the right feet
and then the left ones and simultaneously its sides. When
it grazes or drinks, it is obliged to spread its fore legs very
widely."
The interesting point is that Gilles is the first who
mentions the third horn on the head of the Nubian giraffe.
Andre* Thevet, who introduced tobacco into France
(see "Introduction of Tobacco into Europe," Leaflet 19,
p. 48), and who accompanied Gilles during part of his
travels, likewise noticed the giraffes at Cairo, and gives a
sketch of one in his book "Cosmographie de Levant"
(Lyons, 1554), reproduced in Fig. 22. He writes, "I do not
wish to pass over with silence two giraffes (girafles) which
I saw there (at Cairo). Their necks are larger than that of
a camel; they have on their heads two horns half a foot
long, a small one on the front. The two fore legs are large
and high, the hind legs are short, as may be seen in the
accompanying figure represented as naturally as possible.
This beast is the image of the learned and educated men,
as Poliziano says; for these, at first sight, seem to be rough,
rude, and peeved, although by virtue of the knowledge
they have they are far more gracious, human, and affable
than the others who have no knowledge whatever of sci-
ences and virtue or who, as is commonly said, have greeted
the Muses only at the threshold of the gate." In his "Cos-
mographie universelle" (Vol. I, fol. 388b, Paris, 1575),
Thevet has given a more extensive notice of the giraffe
with a very interesting drawing (reproduced in Plate V),
but it teems with so many errors and absurdities that it is
not worth placing on record. He locates, for instance, the
giraffe in India and denies its occurrence in Ethiopia. The
giraffe (Plate V) is guided by two Arabs and driven by
a third man; another giraffe in the background freely
browses under palms. The bodies of the animals are un-
fortunately misdrawn. %
84
Field Museum op Natural History
Pierre Belon (1518-64), a prominent French traveller
and naturalist, reputed for the exactness of his observa-
tions, saw in Cairo the same giraffes as Gilles and Thevet,
and has given a more accurate description of them, which
is accompanied by the quaint picture of a giraffe drawn by
himself from life (Fig. 23). He writes, —
"Formerly the grand lords, whatever barbarians they
may have been, rejoiced in having beasts of foreign coun-
tries presented to them. In the castle of Cairo we saw
Fig. 22.
Giraffe with Guide.
From Andre Thevet's Cosmographie de Levant (1554).
several of those which had been brought there from all
parts of the world, among these the animal commonly
called Zurnapa, by the ancient Romans Camelopardalis.
This is a very beautiful beast of the gentlest possible dis-
position, almost like a lamb, and more amiable or sociable
than any other wild animal. Its head is almost similar to
that of a stag, save that it is not so large, and bears small,
obtuse horns»six inches long and covered with hair. There
The Giraffe in the Age of the Renaissance
85
is a distinction between the male and the female inasmuch as
the horns of the males are longer; for the rest, both sexes
have large ears like a cow, a tongue like an ox and black,
and lack teeth in the upper mandible. They have long,
Portraift de la Giraffe.
Fig. 23.
Giraffe.
From Pierre Belon's Observations de Plusieurs Singularitez et Choses
Memorables (An vers, 1555).
straight, and graceful necks and fine, round manes. Their
legs are graceful, high in front, and so low behind that the
animal seems to stand erect. Its feet are like those of an
ox. Its tail hangs down over the hocks, being round and
86 Field Museum op Natural History
with hair three times coarser than that of a horse. It is
slender in the middle of the body. Its hair is white and
red. In its gait it resembles the camel. In running, the two
front feet go together. It sleeps with the paunch on the
ground, and has a callosity on the chest and thighs like a
camel. It cannot graze standing without straddling its fore
legs, and even then feeds with great difficulty. Therefore
it is easily credible that it lives in the fields solely on tree-
leaves, its neck being so long that it can reach with its
head to the height of a spear."
Aside from exaggerating the proportion of fore and
hind legs and the erroneous definition of the gait, Belon's
description is fairly exact.
A curious utilization of the hair of the giraffe is men-
tioned in the Travels of Nicolo dei Conti of the fifteenth
century. Conti was a pioneer of European commerce in
the East and travelled extensively in Egypt, Arabia, Per-
sia, and India from 1419 to 1444. At his return to Italy he
gave an account of his journey to Poggio Bracciolini, secre-
tary of the Pope Eugenius IV. Bracciolini interpolated in
his manuscript some information received from emissaries
of the Pope to Ethiopia, and the notice of the giraffe ema-
nates from this source. Curiously enough, the animal's
name is not given. We read in Conti's Travels, "They
informed me that there was also another animal, nine cubits
long and six in height, with cloven hoofs like those of an
ox, the body not more than a cubit in thickness, with hair
very like to that of a leopard and a head resembling that of
the camel, with a neck four cubits long and a hairy tail:
the hairs are purchased at a high price, and worn by the
women suspended from their arms, and ornamented with
various sorts of gems."
It is a curious coincidence that a similar allusion to
giraffe-tails occurs in the Tractatus pulcherrimus by an un-
known author, written in the second half of the fifteenth
century and published together with the famous letter of
Prester John (see note on p. 97). The giraffe has hitherto
The Giraffe in the Age of the Renaissance 87
not been recognized in this passage, but comparison with
Conti's account leaves no doubt of the giraffe being in-
tended. In enumerating the animals of Ethiopia, among
these elephant and rhinoceros, this text mentions "another
animal in Ethiopia, as they relate, the largest; the hairs
of its tail are sold at a great price, and are used by their
women as a great ornament." In the same manner as in
Conti's notice, the animal is not named, and it is certain
that the passage must emanate from the same source, — the
Pope's ambassadors to Ethiopia. We remember that gi-
raffe-tails were offered as presents to King Tutenkhamon
(above, p. 23), and it is interesting to observe how such old
practices have been perpetuated through centuries down
to modern times (above, p. 6). The Masai of East Africa
still preserve the long hairs of giraffe-tails, and their girls
use these hairs as threads to sew the beads on to their
clothes. The natives of Kordofan still make bracelets of
such hairs, which are traded over the Sudan.
In H. Goebel's "Wandteppiche" (Plate 226) is repro-
duced a carpet from the beginning of the sixteenth century,
doubtfully referred to the manufacture of Oudenarde in
Flanders. In this carpet are represented five giraffes
equipped with headstalls and collar bands apparently
decorated with jewels; one of the animals is provided
with three horns. Their necks are straight and too long
proportionately; anatomically incorrect and fantastic,
they evidently were copied from drawings.
The Art Institute of Chicago owns an interesting print
said to be Portuguese and to date from the eighteenth cen-
tury. It is a gift of Mr. Robert Allerton. A section of it is
reproduced in Plate VI. The design, a giraffe guided by
an Arab and surrounded by floral patterns, is repeated
many times. It is a continuation of the tradition inaugu-
rated by Thevet and Topsell.
THE GIRAFFE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
AND AFTER
The first live giraffes received in France and England
were gifts of Mohammed Ali, Pasha of Egypt, who also
dispatched a live specimen to the Sultan at Constantinople
and to the court of Vienna.
In 1826 he presented a giraffe to the king of France
who had it placed in the Jardin des Plantes of Paris, which
had been established in 1635. This was the first living
giraffe who made its appearance in France. Its arrival was
a great event and caused a sensation throughout the
country. This giraffe was a female, about two years old,
eleven feet and six inches in height, originating from Sen-
naar. She was about six months old when captured by
Arabs, and was sold to Muker Bey, governor of Sennaar,
who presented her to the Pasha. She was embarked at
Alexandria, wearing around her neck a strip of parchment
inscribed with several passages from the Koran and pur-
ported as an amulet to safeguard her health and welfare.
She was accompanied by four Arabs to guide her and by
three cows to supply her with milk. She landed at Mar-
seille in November, 1826, sixteen months after leaving
Sennaar, and arrived in Paris in June of the following year
(1827). She was introduced to the king, Charles X, who
then resided in the castle of Saint-Cloud, and was sub-
sequently shown to an ever-increasing multitude of people.
Every one was eager to see her, thousands waited in line
for hours to catch a glimpse of the animal, the whole press
busied itself about her. Articles and poems (chansons)
were devoted to her, and she became so popular that she
penetrated into the realm of fashion which seized her forms
and colors, creating dresses a la girafe, hats and neckties
a la girafe, and combs a la girafe. At Nevers she was
modeled in faience, at Epinal she was glorified in colored
pictures. She even entered the sanctum of politics, and a
88
The Giraffe in the Nineteenth Century 89
bronze medal was cast, showing a giraffe who addresses
these words to the country: ''There is nothing that has
changed in France, there is only another beast here." This
giraffe gladdened the hearts of Parisians for nearly twenty-
years. It may now be seen stuffed in the Natural History
Museum of the Jardin des Plantes. It is a curious coinci-
dence that it is just a hundred years since this first live
giraffe arrived in Paris, and an Associated Press dispatch
from Paris of July 30, 1927, announces that this centenary
will be duly celebrated. In 1843 a giraffe was presented
by Clot Bey to the menagerie of the same museum in
Paris.
In 1827 Mohammed Ali, Pasha of Egypt, presented a
Nubian giraffe to George IV, king of England. This was
the first giraffe received alive in Britain. Unfortunately, it
survived but a few months at Windsor. The animal, in its
surroundings at Windsor; was painted by James Laurent
Agasse; this picture is preserved in the Royal Collection
and reproduced by Lydekker (in Proceedings of the Zoolo-
gical Society of London, 1904, Vol. II, p. 340). A portrait of
Mr. Cross, the animal-dealer, together with two Arabs, is
introduced into the scenery. Owing to the immature con-
dition of the animal, the frontal horn was not fully devel-
oped; the animal, as shown in the painting, displays all the
characteristics of the typical Nubian race of Giraffa camelo-
pardalis, such as the net-like style of the markings, the
white "stockings," and the comparatively large size of the
spots on the upper part of the legs.
Another painting in the Royal Collection, represent-
ing a group of giraffes, is by R. B. Davis, a well-known
painter, and is dated "September, 1827." It is described
as "two giraffes belonging to George IV," and on the back
it is titled "portrait of the Giraffe belonging to his Ma-
jesty." According to Lydekker, this species is intended for
the Southern or Cape form, as the old bull has no frontal
horn, while the markings are of the blotched, instead of
the netted, type, and the lower parts of the legs are spotted,
90 Field Museum op Natural History
although not quite so fully as they ought to be. Lydekker
thinks that Davis might have taken Paterson's specimen
of a Cape giraffe in the British Museum as his model; if
this conclusion be correct, the painting is of very con-
siderable interest, as that race now appears to be extinct.
Lieutenant W. Paterson (Narrative of Four Journeys
into the Country of the Hottentots and Caffraria in 1777-
79, p. 127, London, 1790), who was commissioned by Lady
Strathmore to botanize in the then unknown region of
Caffraria, offers an excellent copper-plate representing a
"Camelopardalis" shot by him in South Africa and de-
scribes it as follows: "The color of these animals is in
general reddish, or dark brown and white, and some of
them are black and white; they are cloven footed; have
four teats; their tail resembles that of a bullock; but the
hair of the tail is much stronger, and in general black; they
have eight fore teeth below, but none above; and six
grinders, or double teeth, on each side above and below;
the tongue is rather pointed and rough; they have no foot-
lock hoofs; they are not swift; but can continue a long
chase before they stop; which may be the reason that few
of them are shot. The ground is so sharp that a horse is in
general lame before he can get within shot of them, which
was the case with our horses, otherwise I should have pre-
served two perfect specimens of a male and female. It is
difficult to distinguish them at a distance, from the short-
ness of their body, which, together with the length of their
neck, gives them the appearance of a decayed tree."
Paterson sent home an immature male specimen of a
Southern giraffe which he had shot and which was pre-
sented by Lady Strathmore to John Hunter, the distin-
guished surgeon. The animal's skull with some of the bones
is still preserved in the Museum of the Royal College of
Surgeons. The giraffe itself was finally acquired by the
British Museum, where it was still extant in 1843, though
in bad condition.
The Giraffe in the Nineteenth Century 91
In 1836, four young giraffes from Kordofan, about
two years old, were safely received at the London Zoolo-
gical Gardens. The animals — three males and a female —
flourished, and became the progenitors of a long line of
English-bred giraffes, the first calf being born in June,
1839. It was followed by two others, the old female dying
at the age of eighteen years. The animals continued to
breed, and during the period between 1836 and the death
of the last of the old stock in 1892, no less than thirty
individuals were exhibited in the Regent's Park menagerie,
seventeen of which had been born there. A pair of young
animals, presented by Col. Mahon and likewise obtained
from Kordofan, arrived in London in the summer of
1902.
The first living example of the Southern giraffe was
imported into Europe in 1895 for the Zoological Garden
of London at the price of £500. It had been captured on
the Sabi River in Portuguese territory and brought down
to Pretoria, whence it was conveyed to Delagoa Bay and
shipped to Southampton.
In 1863 Lorenzo Casanova, an adventurous traveller
and animal collector, returned from the Egyptian Sudan to
Europe with a transport of six giraffes, the first African
elephants, and many other rare mammals. In 1864 he
entered with the firm Carl Hagenbeck into a contract
according to which all animals to be secured on his future
expeditions to Africa should be ceded to the latter. In
1870 the largest consignment of wild animals that ever
reached Europe arrived at Trieste, consisting of fourteen
giraffes, ninety other mammals, and twenty-six ostriches.
The giraffes were distributed over the zoological gardens of
Vienna, Dresden, Berlin, and Hamburg. About that time
the itinerant menagerie-owners and showmen also began
to keep giraffes; thus Carl Kaufmann, famous animal-
trainer and disciple of Gottlieb Kreutzberg, who always
endeavored to gather novel and interesting beasts, had a
superb collection of trained lions, tigers, elephants, hippo-
92 Field Museum of Natural History
potamus, rhinoceros, and giraffes. Renz, the celebrated cir-
cus-director, utilized giraffes, antelopes, buffalo, and many
other creatures for the equipment of his pantomime "The
Festival of the Queen of Abyssinia."
An inquiry addressed to the firm Carl Hagenbeck at
Stellingen near Hamburg elicited the information that
during the period 1873-1914 this firm imported a total of
a hundred and fifty giraffes in four species, — Giraffa camelo-
pardalis of Lower Nubia and Abyssinia, G. capensis of the
Cape territory, G. hagenbecki from Gallaland, and G.
tippelskirchi from former German East Africa. The largest
specimen imported by Hagenbeck, about eleven and a half
feet in height, came from the Galla country, and was trans-
mitted to the Zoological Garden of Rome. Prior to 1914
Hagenbeck maintained at the foot of the Kilimanjaro in
Africa a station for captive animals, where the captured
young giraffes moved freely in a larger kraal, as shown in
Plates VIII-IX made from photographs due to the
courtesy of the firm Carl Hagenbeck. In its wonderful
park at Stellingen the giraffes occupy a large stretch of
land with a fine building of Arabic style. Like other ani-
mals, giraffes can be perfectly acclimatized almost every-
where, and do not suffer from the inclemencies of the
European winter. Among the numerous interesting
observations recorded by Carl Hagenbeck in his memoirs
we read also that the hairs of the giraffes adapt them-
selves to the new conditions of life and that toward the
end of the winter their hairs were found to be one and a
half times longer than they usually are.
Only young animals of about eight feet in height are
captured. They are hunted and lassoed by horsemen.
This is comparatively easy, but the task of accustoming
them to their new life, caring for them and rearing them,
above all, their transportation presents difficult problems.
On their way to the coast the animals must run. A strap
is placed around the base of their neck, and they are
governed by means of two halters, one in front and one
The Giraffe in the Twentieth Century 93
behind. On board ship or train they are stowed in large
boxes which in size must correspond to the height of the
animal with its neck outstretched. The average price for
a young giraffe before the war was about $1500-2000. At
present when giraffes but very seldom are offered on the
market, prices are arbitrary and fluctuating, and vary
between $5000 and $7500.
The Zoological Society of Philadelphia keeps records of
all the animals that have arrived there for the zoological
garden which is the oldest in the United States. The
earliest record there relating to the arrival of giraffes is an
entry under August 11, 1874, when five males and one
female were purchased.
The zoological garden in Lincoln Park, Chicago, re-
ceived two giraffes, a male and a female, two years old, in
October 1913, as a gift from Mrs. Mollie Netcher New-
berger. The female died in December, 1915; the male, in
May, 1919. Both were mounted, and are now on exhibi-
tion at the Boston Store. A giraffe in the Bronx Zoological
Garden, New York, according to newspaper reports, is
said to have given life to three young ones.
The London Zoological Garden now has only two
giraffes — Maudie and Maggie. Maudie is a Nubian giraffe
from the Sudan; and Maggie, a Kordofan giraffe, born in
the menagerie, who has weathered twenty years of capti-
vity.
In modern applied and commercial art the giraffe has
not been entirely forgotten. It is familiar to our newspaper
cartoonists. T^he advertisement of a well-known throat
remedy is accompanied by a giraffe's head and neck. The
British Uganda Railway displays a poster with a very
effective colored picture of a giraffe. In the London Illus-
trated News of May 29, 1926 appeared a series of eleven
comical sketches of giraffes from the hand of J. A. Shep-
herd under the title "Humours of the Zoo: Studies of Ani-
mal Life, No. XV." As to art-crafts, I have noticed metal
94 Field Museum of Natural History
figures of giraffes as radiator caps on automobiles. Yet, a
wider application might be made of this motif; for in-
stance, in pen-racks and lamp-holders, an electric bulb being
carried between the horns. Carl F. Gronemann, who has
drawn the giraffe-heads for the cover and vignette of this
leaflet, has thereby furnished excellent examples of how
such animal designs may be employed in the graphic arts,
for book-ornaments, bindings, or book-plates. Our sculp-
tors and artists in oil have almost neglected this subject.
While we have excellent photographs of both wild and
tame giraffes, a really artistic painting or statuette of them
remains to be done, and the inspiration coming from the
works of the ancient Egyptians and Chinese may be help-
ful to the modern artist.
A very artistic picture of four giraffes browsing
among acacias, by the American artist, Robert Winthrop
Chanler, is now in the Mus6e du Luxembourg, Paris;
it is reproduced in The American Magazine of Art, 1922,
No. 12, p. 535.
NOTES
In regard to the role of the giraffe in Hottentot folk-lore (p. 29)
compare the stories recorded by L. Schultze, Aus Namaland und Kala-
hari (Jena, 1907), pp. 405, 417, 489, 531. The Masai of East Africa
have a good story of the Dorobo and the Giraffe (A. C. Hollis, The
Masai, Their Language and Folk-lore, 1905, p. 235).
Page 35. Quatremere (Histoire des Sultans Mamlouks de
l'Egypte, Vol. I, 1840, pp. 106-108) has extracted from Arabic manu-
scripts quite a number of records referring to presentations of giraffes.
Only those which are of importance on account of their historical asso-
ciations have been mentioned by me. In regard to al-Mahdi (p. 35),
see T. K. Hitti, Origins of the Islamic State, Vol. I, p. 381 (Columbia
University Press, 1916). The essential point is to recognize that the
Muslim rulers of mediaeval Egypt were exceedingly active in sending
giraffes as gifts into many parts of the world. The Abbassid Caliphs
had an animal park at Baghdad which has been described by a
Greek embassy in A. D. 917 (see G. Le Strange, Journal Royal
Asiatic Society, 1897, p. 41). — The giraffe occurs also among
Egyptian shadow-play figures of Cairo. One of these is illustrated by
P. Kahle, Der Islam, Vol. II, p. 173 (possibly a giraffe in Fig. 34, Vol. I,
p. 294). — In regard to the derivation of the Arabic word zarafa from
the Ethiopic and the relations of these words to Egyptian, compare F.
Hommel, Die Namen der Saugetiere bei den sudsemitischen Volkern
(1879), p. 230. — Masudi is not the first Arabic author who wrote about
the giraffe. There is an earlier lengthy account by Al-Jahiz (who died
in A.D. 869) in his Kitab al-hayawan ("Book of Animals"), Vol. VII,
p. 76 of the edition published at Cairo, 1907; but the text is partially
corrupt and very abstruse, and as its essential points are all con-
tained in the authors cited above, I have not reproduced it. — The
Persian story of the young giraffe (p. 39) meets with a curious parallel
to what the Arabs say about the young rhinoceros: the period of gesta-
tion of the mother rhino is four years, the young one stretches its head
out of the mother's womb and browses at the trees around; at the
lapse of four years it leaves the womb and runs away with lightning
speed, for fear that its mother might lick it with her tongue which is so
rough that once it licks an animal, the latter's flesh will separate from
the bones in a moment (compare G. Ferrand in Journal asiatique, 1925,
Oct.-Dec, p. 267).
As Prof. Sprengling kindly informs me, one of the earliest Arabic
references to the giraffe occurs in Bashshar Ibn Burd, the blind, de-
formed poet of the late Omayyad and early Abbassid period, who died
in A.D. 783. In a satire on the early Mutagilite Wasil Ibn Ata, named
Abu Hudhaifa, nicknamed al-Ghazzal, the weaver (because he fre-
quented the weavers to observe the chastity of their women) , when the
latter made a derogatory exclamation about the poet's neck, he says: —
95
96 Field Museum of Natural History
Why should I be bothered by a weaver, who, if he turns his
back, has a neck
Like an ostrich of the desert; and if he faces you,
The neck of the giraffe? What have I to do with you?
Some Arabic philologists regard zarafa as a purely Arabic word
and derive it from the Arabic root zrf, which means "assembly."
Hence Sibawaih, the great grammarian of the Arabs, who died in A. D.
793 or 796, writes, "God created the giraffe with its fore legs longer
than its hind legs. It is named with the name of the assembly, because
it is in the form of an assembly of animals. Ibn Doraid writes it zurafa
and doubts that it is an Arabic word." Ibn Doraid, of course, is
justified in his doubt; he was a celebrated philologist of Basra and lived
from A. D. 837 to 934.
The giraffe in Chinese records (p. 42) was first pointed out by H.
Kopsch {China Review, Vol. VI, 1878, p. 277), who translated the de-
scription of a Kilin with reference to Aden from a Chinese biography
of Mohammed. This text, however, has no independent value, but is
literally copied from Ma Huan's account. This brief notice induced
De Groot to contribute to the same journal (Vol. VII, p. 72) an article
on "The Giraffe and The Kilin," in which he tries to show that the
Kilin of ancient Chinese tradition may be identical with the giraffe.
This, of course, is a reversion of logic. It is impossible to assume that
the ancient Chinese were acquainted with the giraffe, which in the
present geological period did not anywhere occur in Asia; nor do the
ancient descriptions of the Kilin, as assumed by De Groot, fit the
giraffe. The climax of sinological romance is reached by A. Forke (Mu
Wang und die Konigin von Saba, p. 141), according to whom the
Chinese were acquainted with the giraffe in the earlier Chou period
through the travels of King Mu to the west. The giraffe, on the other
hand, was not recognized by Bretschneider (China Review, Vol. V,
1876, p. 172) in the Kilin of Arabia purchased by a Chinese envoy in
1430. O. Munsterberg (Chinesische Kunstgeschichte, Vol. II, p. 65)
sees a "wounded giraffe" on a Han bas-relief of Teng-fung, Ho-nan.
The animal in question is simply a deer. The alleged "giraffe-like
Kilin" on a bronze basin of the Han period (cf. A. C. Moule in the
article cited in the Bibliography) is the so-called spotted deer (Cervus
mandarinus), called by the Chinese met hua lu ("plum-blossom stag").
Its spots are represented either by small circles or even by plum-
blossoms of realistic style.
The reader interested in the relations of the Chinese with the east
coast of Africa may consult F. Hirth, Early Chinese Notices of East
African Territories, Journal American Oriental Society, Vol. XXX,
1909, pp. 46-57.
The animal a-t'a-pi (p. 43) is referred to by W. W. Rockhill (T'oung
Poo, 1914, p. 441) with the remark, "I have no means of determining
what animal is meant." Damaliscus jimila, according to Roosevelt,
extends from Mount Elgon and the northern highlands of Uganda
southward over the Man Escarpment and Victoria Nyanza drainage
Notes 97
to what formerly was central German East Africa; westward as far as
the Edward Nyanza and Lake Kivu; also near the coast from the Sa-
kaki and Tana Rivers northward as far as the Juba River. The topi is
one of the most conspicuously colored of all antelopes, being inversely
countershaded. The body coloration is a bright cinnamon-rufous over-
laid everywhere by a silvery sheen which gives the coat a resplendent
effect. The red color is deepest on the head, throat, and sides and
lightest on the rump, hind quarters, and tail, where it fades to pure
cinnamon. The shoulders are marked by a broad black patch which
extends down on the fore legs as far as the knees and completely circles
the upper part of the leg. The hind quarters are marked by a much
larger black patch which extends down on the limbs as far as the
hocks above which it forms a complete band around the leg.
Ma Huan's account of Aden containing the description of the
giraffe (p. 45) was first translated by G. Phillips in Journal Royal
Asiatic Society, 1896, pp. 348-351, and subsequently by A. C. Moule
in the article cited in the Bibliography.
In regard to the opossum (p. 54) cf. C. R. Eastman, Early Figures
of the Opossum, Nature, Vol. 95, 1915, p. 89.
Page 58. The learned S. Bochart, in his famous Hierozoicon (Vol.
I, col. 908, 1675) rejected the opinion that Aristotle was acquainted
with the giraffe, but subsequently Pallas, Allamand, G. Schneider in his
translation of Aristotle's History of Animals, as well as Joly and Lavo-
cat, have championed the opposite view, which, however, is untenable.
O. Keller (Die antike Tierwelt) offers little on the giraffe; he does not
place the accounts of the ancients on record, nor does he discuss them.
H. Rommel (Die naturwissenschaftlich-paradoxographischen Exkurse
bei Philostratos, Heliodoros und Tatios, 1923, p. 61) gives a brief
critical evaluation of the texts.
An interesting essay on the former statues in Constantinople
(p. 66) was written by R. M. Dawkins, Ancient Statues in Mediaeval
Constantinople, Folk-lore, Vol. XXXV, 1924, pp. 209-248.
The text of Jean de Joinville (p. 74) is as follows: "Entre les autres
joiaus que il envoia au roy, li envoia un oliphant de cristal mount bien
fait, et une beste que Ton appelle orafle, de cristal aussi, pommes de
diverses manieres de cristal, et jeuz de tables et de eschiez; et toutes ces
choses estoient fleuretees de ambre, et estoit li ambres liez sur le cristal
a beles vignetes de bon or fin." — Natalis de Wailly, Histoire de Saint
Louis par Jean Sire de Joinville (1878), p. 163.
The complete title of this curious little work ( p. 86 ) is Tractatus
pulcherrimus de situ et dispositione regionum et insularum tocius
Indiae, nee non de rerum mirabilium ac gentium diversitate. A
critical editon of the text is given by F. Zarncke (Der Priester Johannes
II, pp. 174-179).
B. Laufer.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bryden, H. A. — On the Present Distribution of the Giraffe South
of the Zambesi. Proceedings Zoological Society of London, 1891,
pp. 445-447.
Great and Small Game of Africa. London, 1899. Giraffe:
pp. 488-510.
Burckhardt, J. — Die Kultur der Renaissance in Italien. 2 vols. 12th
ed. Leipzig, 1919.
Eastman, C. R. — Early Representations of the Giraffe. Nature, Vol.
94, 1915, pp. 672-673.
Illustration of the giraffe of Pamfili (incomplete) after O.
Keller and an Egyptian design from Thebes after Ehrenberg.
More Early Animal Figures. Nature, Vol. 95, 1915, p. 589.
Two Egyptian figures, one after Wilkinson, another from
Hierakonpolis after Quibell.
Chinese and Persian Giraffe Paintings. Nature, Vol. 99,
1917, p. 344.
Chinese painting of A. W. Bahr representing giraffe and
accompanied by erroneous conclusions (see above, p. 49).
Giraffe and Sea Horse in Ancient Art. American Museum
Journal, Vol. XVII, 1917, p. 489.
Same matter as preceding article.
Ferrand, G. — Le nom de la giraffe dans le Ying yai cheng Ian. Jour-
nal Asiatique, July-August, 1918, pp. 155-158.
In this very interesting article G. Ferrand makes the point
that the Chinese name k'i-lin for the giraffe is based on Somali
giri or geri. This ingenious supposition is not entirely convincing for
several reasons. First, a direct contact of the Chinese with the
Somali is unproved. Second, the old Chinese pronunciation gi-lin
holds good only for the T'ang period, not for the fifteenth century
when the Chinese actually made the acquaintance of the giraffe and
when the word was articulated k'i-lin as at present. Third, the name
k'i-lin was applied to the animal in China when it arrived there as
early as 1414, the Chinese naturally believing that it virtually was
the k'i-lin of their ancient lore. Ferrand insists that Ma Huan heard
the Somali word giri at Aden, but Ma Huan himself did not visit Aden;
his account of Aden is based on the report of the eunuch Li who
was at Aden in 1422, but at least eight years earlier the giraffe
was designated k'i-lin on Chinese soil. For these reasons the So-
mali hypothesis appears to me unnecessary. The question is
merely of an adaptation of an old name to a novel animal, not of
98
Bibliography 99
an attempt at transcribing a foreign word. The Somali name was
not transmitted anywhere; it was the Arabic name zurafa which
was conveyed both to China and to Europe.
Grabham, G. W. — An Original Representation of the Giraffe. Nature
Vol. 96, 1915, pp. 59-60.
Reproduction from G. A. Hoskins, Travels in Ethiopia (1835),
of a giraffe from an Egyptian monument, with reference to East-
man's articles in Nature.
Hagbnbeck, C. — Von Tieren und Menschen, Erlebnisse und Erfah-
rungen. Berlin, 1908.
Joly, N., and Lavocat, A. — Recherches historiques, zoologiques, ana-
tomiques et pateontologiques sur la girafe. Memoires de la Soci-
6t6 des sciences naturelles de Strasbourg, Vol. Ill, 1846, pp. 1-124
in quarto. 17 plates.
This is the most extensive monograph on the giraffe ever
published and particularly good in the historical section. The authors
give the complete texts of Greek, Latin, Byzantine and mediaeval
writers on the giraffe, but English authors are neglected, and
Oriental lore was unknown at that time.
Loisel, G. — Historie des menageries de l'antiquite a nos jours. 3 vols.
Paris, 1912.
Lydekkbr, R. — On Old Pictures of Giraffes and Zebras. Proceedings
of the Zoological Society of London, 1904, Vol. II, pp. 339-345.
Refers to the English paintings of giraffes mentioned on p. 89.
Maxwell, W. — Stalking Big Game with a Camera in Equatorial
Africa. New York, 1924. Chap. VI: Camera Incidents with the
Masai Giraffe.
Moule, C. A. — Some Foreign Birds and Beasts in Chinese Books.
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1925, pp. 247-261.
The value of this article rests on the fact that for the first
time illustrations of animals from a Chinese book of the fifteenth
century are given, but the data are not critically digested.
Phipson, Emma. — The Animal-lore of Shakespeare's Time, pp. 130-
133. London, 1883.
Renshaw, G. — Natural History Essays. London, 1904. The North-
ern Giraffe, pp. 99-113; 5 illustrations.
Roosevelt, T. and Heller, E. — Life-histories of African Game Ani-
mals. 2 vols. New York, 1914. Chap. XI: The Reticulated and
Common Giraffes.
100 Field Museum op Natural History
Salze. — Observations faites sur la girafe envoyee au roi par le Pacha
d'Egypte. Memoires du Museum d'histoire naturelle, Paris, Vol.
XIV, 1827, pp. 68-84.
This is the first description of the giraffe in France based on a
live specimen and enriched by information given by the Arab
guides of the animal.
Winton, W. E. de. — Remarks on the Existing Forms of Giraffe.
Proceedings Zoological Society of London, 1897, pp. 273-283.
Yule, H.— Hobson-Jobson. London, 1903. "Giraffe": pp. 377-378.
The quotations given are mere extracts and not complete;
the translations from Greek authors are very inexact.
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