[From a Correspondent.]
The interesting animal you alluded to in your Magazine of 30th June, and
which made so unfortunate a journey to England, was an old acquaintance
of mine. I happened to be at Malta when it arrived in that island from
Egypt. The Governor, Sir F. Ponsonby, provided it with a very pleasant
and appropriate lodging in the grounds of the villa of Sant’ Antonio,
where I saw it several times with its two African keepers, who had
attended it so far. The sultry, dry climate of Malta seemed to agree
very well with it. There were no trees on that arid rock tall enough to
require the length of his neck--the tallest at Sant’ Antonio were not
much higher than its legs, and it was exceedingly pretty to see with
what grace the creature bent its long, elastic neck, and brought its
small, deer-like head, to play with their topmost branches. It only
played with them. The Africans fed him regularly with some sort of dry
provender, and when they appeared he was accustomed to show considerable
animation; but I never saw it so forgetful of its dignity as to run--on
the contrary, it walked up to them with very stately steps. Its eye then
was particularly bright and beautiful, and the whole appearance of the
animal was indeed very different from what I have heard described after
its arrival in England.
The day it was embarked it did not look so well as usual. It was put on
board a large, new merchant brig only lately built at Malta. When it was
in the hold, with its feet almost on the brig’s keel, it could stretch
its neck out of the main hatch-way, and command all the deck with its
head. It seemed greatly astonished, but remained as tranquil as
possible. I never heard it make the least noise. When the sailors went
near it, it drew in its head, but seemed to protrude it with pleasure
when its old companions and countrymen, the Africans, approached it.
At Constantinople, on one side of the Hippodrome, there is a menagerie,
now very ill provided,--dark, filthy, and much neglected. Some years ago
a giraffe was sent from Egypt to enrich the collection of beasts then
existing there. Its keeper was accustomed to take it to exercise in the
large open square of the Hippodrome, where the Turks used to flock daily
in great crowds, to cultivate the acquaintance of the extraordinary
quadruped. Seeing how perfectly inoffensive it was, and how domesticated
it became, the keeper next used to take it with him on his walks through
the city, and wherever the general favourite appeared, a number of
friendly hands were held out of the _gazebos_, or projecting latticed
windows, to offer it something to eat. The Turkish women were
particularly attentive to it. The generality of the streets at
Constantinople are so narrow, that, as it walked along the middle, its
neck being inflected to the right or to the left, it could almost touch
the houses. After some time, when it came to a house where it had been
particularly well treated, if no one was at the window, it would gently
tap against the wooden lattice, as though to announce its visit. It was
extremely docile and easily directed, but if left to itself, it was
observed invariably to take the street in which it had the most or the
best friends. This pet of the Turkish capital died a long time before my
arrival, but an old servant I had, told me the anecdote.
The old traveller, Marco Polo, says he was told of the existence of
camelopards, or giraffes, in the island of Madagascar on the coast of
Africa, and in Abyssinia. It does not appear that he saw any specimen,
but he describes its principal features very accurately.
C. M
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