Another writer describes a still more wonderful sight, where, through an opening among hills, a vast herd poured for hours together in a compact moving mass, half a mile broad.
So immense are these herds of springboks that when a lion or a leopard, lurking on the outskirts of the mass, is swept into the ranks, he is virtually taken prisoner and has to march along in the midst, a captive not a captor.
When young the springbok is easily tamed. It then becomes a very active, over-familiar, tricky, and troublesome pet.
CHAPTER LV.
SOME OF THE RUMINANTS.
The domestic animals, such as the cow and sheep, have been introduced into Africa with great success, but they are not native to the continent.
Of the ruminants, or cud-chewing animals, of Africa, the giraffe is a most beautiful yet peculiar specimen. It is found in a wild state only in South Africa. Its name is taken directly from the Spanish language, which received the word from the Arabic tongue. The word in the original signifies long neck.
The animal is sometimes called camelopard, from two Greek words which signify camel and panther, since in some respects it is like a camel, while its spots are suggestive of the panther.
The first giraffe ever seen in Europe was exhibited in the circus at Rome under Julius Cæsar. Other emperors exhibited them at different times; but, after the fall of Rome, no living specimen of the animal was ever taken to Europe until the early part of the present century. At that time the Pacha of Egypt gave a specimen to France and one to England.